


From Eden

by Soccer_Sehun



Series: Edenverse [1]
Category: EXO (Band), Highlight | Beast (Band), MBLAQ, SHINee, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Alternate Universe - Mythology, Comedy, Eventual Smut, Fantasy, Knotting, Korean mythology & folklore, M/M, Mpreg, Romance, Sehun Has ADHD, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2018-08-13 01:59:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 51,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7957984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soccer_Sehun/pseuds/Soccer_Sehun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jongin just wanted to enjoy college like any normal young adult and eventually, reluctantly, take over the family business. Maybe even settle down and have a couple of kids. The only problem was that 1) the family business is actually more along the supernatural type a.k.a protecting the fragile balance between the Spirit and Human worlds while attempting to keep your slightly overbearing father off your back and making sure your tails don't pop up in class, 2) In addition to that he also has a really big problem in the form of Oh Sehun, a smart ass dance prodigy who can't pay attention to save his life, who just so happens to be the predestined love of his life and if things weren't bad enough now some asshole who has some bad blood with his father and grandfather wants him and the rest of his family dead. Yup pretty much any college kid's dream.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Basic Lore & Characters

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! So I decided to cross post From Eden on here. I'm not abandoning the fic on AFF but I'll just be updating it one here too.

Basic Lore

  * The Kumiho royal family acts as the nature gods of good fortune and protectors of the natural balance for Korea.
  * Unlike their real world counterparts, they are respected and revered and some are assigned as guardians of temples or entire cities similar to Japan’s fox spirits.

  * The current leader of the royal family is known as “The Lord Guardian of Seoul” and is passed down from generation to generation.

  * In special cases there have/can be two or three Lord Guardians (ex. Siwon and Kris both serve as Lord Guardians).

  * Male Kumihos are capable of getting pregnant and as such a majority of the royal family is male.

  * Male Kumihos are able to knot like other canines.

  * As such they definitely aren’t against gay relationships.

  * Also can control nature with their powers (ex. some are born with ability to control wind, etc).

  * They are immortal.

  * Typically appears as humans with fox tails.

  * In their divine fox form, they appear as large foxes with mutiple tails.

  * Known for being pranksters and mischievous.

  * Most kumihos are considered mature around 180 years and get mated around 260 years.

  * In rare cases it is possible for a kumiho to have two mates.

  * All kumihos have their own destined mate from birth but are able to have relationships before meeting their destined.

  * The more powerful they are, the more tails they have (the most they can have is nine).

  * Can transform into any form they want (human or animal).

  * Members of the royal family watch over their own subsections of South Korea but still are underneath the Lord Guardian (ex. Leetuk is the guardian of Jeju Island but is not more powerful than Siwon or Kris).

  * Those of lesser nobility and below act as spirit guides/ guardian angels to one lone regular humans or entire families.

  * Younger members of the royal family are also assigned their own humans to protect.

  * Human/Kumiho relationships are possible and aren't usually frowned upon in general except for most older and traditional kumihos.

  * Can fade in particular circumstances.

  * Males that are able to get pregnant appear as females foxes in their transformed state and are sometimes referred to as Vixens.

  * Pregnancy is only about 5-6 months.

  * Pregnant males and females give birth in their fox form.

  * Equal gender society.

  * Males are sometimes referred to as “alpha” by their mates.

  * Wear traditional Korean dress in the Spirit World.

  * Appears invisible to average humans including the ones they watch over unless they’re “aware” or in their human form.

  * Consort of the Lord Guardian shares pretty much the same privileges/powers as the Lord Guardian.

  * “Aware” humans are extremely rare and are usually descended from a kumiho or other supernatural beings.

  * Legacies have much longer lifespans than average humans and age slower than them.

  * Kumihos work closely with the Korean Dragons, Haetae (Unicorn-lions), and Jangjamari (water spirits).

  * Natural enemies with the Gwisin (“Ghosts”).

  * Royal family members typically have anywhere between 6 to 9 tails.

  * A tail can be gained when a kumiho becomes more powerful.

  * Most kumihos reside in their home realm of the Spirit World but some live lives as normal humans.

  * Can give up their immortality and powers to live a normal life.

  * Kumiho royal family resides in both the Spirit World and Human World but mostly in the human world under the guise of an old money chaebol family in order to handle mortal affairs better (with the exception of Siwon, Heechul, and Amber).



* * *

 

 

 


	2. The Eve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo so its me Soccer_Sehun also known as RunningUptheFIeld on AFF where I've also cross posted this fic. I've had FE up on Ao3 but I decided recently to edit it to iron out some of the continuity errors so I'll be uploading the edited chapters and new chapters for the next week or so.

On the slopes of Mt. Jiri, a storm raged on. A small garrison of guards stood in silence, watching over the ancient temple. However, they were not ordinary guards. They were some of the most powerful kumiho guardians, second only to that of the royal family. The members of this elite group had been hand-picked by both of the current Lord Guardians to make sure they kept an eternal watch over the ancient evil that had been sealed away centuries ago.

So far, the night had been rather eerily calming aside from the sounds of rain that came from outside the cave. But there still was an air of uneasiness that had settled between the guardians who were assigned to stand watch for the night. The mountain and its surrounding valley were practically deserted yet tension still lingered heavy in the air.

“I want you all to keep your guard up tonight. Something isn’t quite right, but I can’t place my finger on it.” The leader of the guardians stated as she took her position closest to the temple’s entrance. Her fellow soldiers followed her lead and got into formation, ready to face whatever was coming their way.

A few hours later, their attention was caught by five hooded figures appearing before them at the entrance of the temple.

“Who are you and why are you trespassing on sacred ground?” The guardians’ leader spoke up as she reached for her sword. The figures said nothing but began to make towards the temple before being stopped by a lightning strike directly in front of them. “Take one more step forward and we will be forced to have to eliminate you, as are our orders from the Lord Guardians!”

“Now, now Jinah, there’s no need for blood to be spilled.” The main figure stated calmly before removing his hood much to Jinah and the other guards’ surprise “You know who we are here for so just step aside and this can all be over without any blood.” 

“I’ll gladly lay down my life if it means stopping you from freeing him, Doojoon.” Jinah spat and drew her sword as the other guards did the same.

“And here I thought you had grown out of being the same honorable fool you were at the academy.” He sighed when all he received was a growl in response before giving a nod to his fellow team members and charging at the guards as thunder roared on in the background.

* * *

 

“Kai, wake up! Your ears are showing again!” Lee Taemin whispered sharply to his sleeping cousin, Kim Kai.

The pair were currently in a boring lecture in their Political Science course and to say that both of the boys were completely disinterested would be the understatement of the century. Taemin was busy doodling before he had noticed that his blond-haired cousin’s normally hidden fox ears were showing. You see, the cousins weren’t actually human but members of a supernatural race known as Kumiho who had been tasked with protecting the balance between man and nature. Needless to say, it wouldn’t have worked out in anyone’s favor if they were discovered by an _‘aware’_ human.

Kai stirred from his sleep and stifled a yawn before willing his ears to transform back. “You need to relax, nobody here is even ‘aware’.” He stretched before noticing that the lecture had ended and that the other students were leaving the hall. “Wow, how long have I been out?”

Taemin just rolled his eyes at his cousin’s carelessness, fully prepared to scold him before noticing his older brother waiting for them at the entrance to the hallway. “We should probably get going, you know how Kyungsoo is when it comes to getting to class on time.”

With that, both of the boys gathered their things and made their way to the door, not even noticing a third young man who just heard the whole conversation and was now pleasantly intrigued.

“Kai, wait up!” Oh Sehun called as he ran to catch up with the trio who were currently halfway to the dance studio for their next class.

The blond looked up as he heard the footsteps of his dance partner approaching. “What do you want, Sehun?” Kai groaned as the mop of green hair stopped in front of him.

Sehun took a moment to catch his breath. “Are you ready for our performance today? We’ve only been able to practice twice since it was assigned to us.”

Kai rolled his eyes at the other’s question. “Of course I am, you should focus on being able to keep up with me and not making us have a repeat of last time.” he scoffed.

“Maybe I wouldn’t have to ask you if you'd get your head out of your ass and actually came to practice every once and awhile. I’m not going to fail this class because my partner is a lazy dickhead!” Sehun snapped at the older boy before Jongin continued making his way to class leaving a fuming Sehun behind.

“How the hell are you two related to that asshole?” Sehun fumed once he turned back to the where Taemin and Kyungsoo were standing. The two were still looking rather dumbstruck by their cousin’s uncalled for reaction and could only shake their heads at their cousin’s rudeness towards their friend.

“Look you should know he’s not normally like this…” Kyungsoo tried to assuage the human “But either way that gave him no right to be such a dick to you. I’m sorry about that, Sehun.”

Sehun shrugged, still feeling some anger bubbling to the surface “It’s not like I’m not used to it, to be honest. He’s been an asshole to me since our freshman year of high school. I just wish my grades for dance class didn’t hinge on him actually deciding whether or not he wants to actually take the class seriously.”

“Trust me Kai does take it seriously, he just has a lot going on at home right now.” Taemin attempted to explain.

“Still doesn’t give him an excuse to take it out on me…” Sehun muttered, “Anyways, I’ve gotta go to class guys so I guess I’ll see you tonight.” He said before walking off in the same direction towards the dance studio.

“Why do you feel the need to be such a dick to him? He is right, you know, your arrogance does proceed you,” Taemin said once he and Kyungsoo caught up to Kai who was standing outside of the dance studio.

Kyungsoo nodded in agreement before adding “Besides, even if you do have feelings for him and he is your destined, you have to put them aside at least for now to ensure his well being.”

“Easy for you to say, hyung. You’re dating your destined mate,” Kai pointed to Taemin before turning to Kyungsoo. “And your mate is your best friend and way too busy getting in everyone else’s pants to notice that you're trying to get into his.”

Kai left them in a state of shock as he went through the entrance to get ready for his and Sehun’s upcoming performance for the class. Taemin gave Kyungsoo an amused look at Kai’s stubbornness before heading to his own class.

* * *

Jongin got out of the limo after it pulled up to their his family’s extravagant mansion. His cousins’ classes had already ended and they had arrived at the house about an hour earlier than him. Taemin sent him a text saying that his father wanted to have a family dinner, which meant their plans to freshen up and leave for a night out with their friends would have to be pushed back until later on. A sense of relief flooded over Jongin as he transformed back into his partial divine release form since this was the only time in the human world he could let at least one of his tails get some air and change himself back to its natural colour.

After walking in and following the sound of laughter to the dining room, he pulled up his seat at the dinner table with his family, which included his mother Chanyeol and father Yifan, his aunt and uncle Kibum and Jonghyun, and his cousins. They were all chatting and sharing stories with Kibum and Chanyeol complaining about the long lines in Myeongdong and Jonghyun joking that it was a wonder they weren’t broke because of their expensive shopping habits.

“So Taemin, how are things with you and Minho? Have guys done the do yet?” Chanyeol smirked as he heard his brother nearly choke on his food.

“That asshole better not have even thought about laying a hand on my precious Minnie!” Jonghyun fumed after catching his breath. Kibum was also quick to voice his displeasure. “Just the thought of my innocent baby being defiled by him makes my blood boil! I’d castrate him if I ever found out!” Taemin’s face turned as red as the tablecloth and his tail began to thrash a little bit, but he made no move to refute his aunt’s statement while everyone else at the table tried to contain their laughter.

“Mom, I hate to burst your bubble, but Taemin certainly wasn’t being innocent that time I caught him sucking Minho’s di-!” Kyungsoo was cut off abruptly as his brother threw a roll at him. “What the hell, Tae? I was just clarifying things for mom and dad.”

Taemin only rolled his eyes due to the fact that his brother was pulling another one of his notorious “Satansoo” moments for not helping him ask Baekhyun on a date earlier that week.

After he finally calmed himself, Yifan turned his attention to Jongin. “So tell me, Jongin, have you considered joining me and your grandfather on a training exercise next Saturday? You could finally see firsthand what being Lord Guardian is like.”

Jongin tensed. “As fun as spending time with you and grandpa sounds, and believe me, I’d love to, you know I have a class performance next Saturday.” Jongin hated talking about his future role as Lord Guardian which usually ended in some sort of argument between him and his father.

The room went almost completely silent as Yifan practically glared daggers at Jongin. “Dammit, Jongin! When are you going to begin to take responsibility for your life and take your place in the family? I’ve allowed you to indulge in your little fantasy with the condition that you would actually get serious about your future role as Lord Guardian!” Everyone flinched as Yifan raised his voice, breaking his normally calm and controlled persona. His tail thrashed back and forth in anger and his ears had flattened, showing his frustration.

“Maybe I don't want to take my place in the family, maybe I just want to have a normal life!” Jongin shot back as his gaze met his father’s. Chanyeol could only look on, knowing that this was an issue that could only be settled if Yifan and Jongin found a common ground on their own.

“Jongin you know we aren't beholden to the lifestyles of man." Yifan sighed "I know you didn't ask to born into this family but at least consider where your grandfather and I are coming from-” Before Yifan could say anything else Kibum got up and rushed to the nearby bathroom. Retching sounds could be heard and at the point, nobody had much of an appetite.

“I should probably go check on him,” Jonghyun stated before excusing himself to check on his mate. Yifan, who had calmed down a little, nodded in acknowledgment.

“We all should probably retire for the night. It’s been a long day and everyone looks like they could use a good night of sleep,” Chanyeol said as he pushed his chair in. The others nodded their heads in agreement, leaving the dining room to get ready for bed... or so they thought.

* * *

 

“I think you were being a little harsh on him, Yifan. I know you want what’s best for him, but maybe that’s not the best way to approach it,” Chanyeol said once he and Yifan had finished their nightly routines. He could see that his mate was troubled by their son’s lack of interest in taking over his role. “Trust me, he’ll come around eventually. Just give him some time.”

Yifan listened to his mate, knowing what would happen if he even attempted to speak out. Even though the two had their own distinct parenting styles, they could always agree to disagree in the privacy of their own room. It was what made them such a good team for the long length of time they’d been together.

Chanyeol turned to Yifan. “Maybe you should go to one of his performances, show him you’re willing to compromise with him and that you’re interested in some of his interests. You weren’t exactly one to follow the rules when you were younger either, Yifan.” Chanyeol straddled Yifan and wrapped his arms around his neck, pulling the other into a loving embrace, something he definitely wasn’t expecting.

“And another thing-” Chanyeol was cut off by a pair of lips on his, not that he was complaining. Their lips moved in sync until they had to break apart for air.

Yifan gazed lovingly into Chanyeol’s eyes. “If I try everything you say, will you promise me you won’t lecture me like that again?” Yifan asked as he placed a chaste kiss on Chanyeol’s lips.

“Only if you promise to kiss me like that again. And I see you making a conscious effort, Fanfan.” Yifan chuckled as he heard the other mention his pet name for him before pulling him into another mindblowing kiss with tongue and all.

"Remind me why I put up with you again?" Yifan breathed out huskily as they separate for air. He started removing their clothes while leaving a trail of kisses down Chanyeol’s neck. Chanyeol stared back seductively as he spread his legs for Yifan to see his ultimate prize once they’re both completely naked.

"Because you love me and just so happen to be addicted to my Chan-booty and have been for the last 898 years-" He stopped as he felt a wet sensation lick a stripe across his puckered entrance. The action was repeated again and this time Chanyeol let out a resounding pleasured moan as he gazed at the mop of brown hair between his legs.

Yifan stopped momentarily to wink and send a smirk back up to his disheveled mate. "You were right babe, I am addicted. To. Every. Single. Inch. Of. This. Perfect. Ass." Each word was punctuated with another lick to his entrance. It wasn't long before Yifan went back to eating his ass out like he was a piece of cake and enjoying all that he had to offer. He loved seeing his beautiful mate come undone like this because of his touch.

"Nghh- Kris! I swear to all the gods, Yifan stop fucking teasing me! Get your knot in me now!" Chanyeol wailed in pleasure as Yifan continued his slow ministrations on him.

"Your wish is my command, my queen." And with those words, Yifan plunged his throbbing member into Chanyeol's eager hole. The two continued like that for another hour and a half until both were sated and a whispered pair of "I love you"s were exchanged in the darkness.

Meanwhile, much further down the hall, the boys were getting ready to meet up with their friends at one of the clubs in Hongdae. They’d transformed back into their human states and Taemin and Kyungsoo were trying to figure out which car they should take, while Jongin was on the phone with Minho.

“I think we should take Jongin’s car, it’ll probably get us there faster and that way we eliminate having to use the garage,” Taemin said referencing Jongin’s Porsche which was currently parked in the driveway. Kyungsoo nodded in agreement.

“So it’s agreed then? I just got off the phone with Minho, he said to meet him in front of the club. Apparently, they’ve already reserved one of the V.I.P booths and drinks will be free for us all night,” Jongin informed after he got off the phone with Minho and had grabbed his keys from the nearby dresser. The brothers gave a nod of approval and finished getting ready. After making sure they had everything, the trio crept down the stairs and headed out the door, making sure to be extra careful and not make any noise since the Kumiho were known for their sensitive hearing.

Little did they know, Jonghyun had overheard their whole conversation. After making sure that Kibum had everything he needed and was asleep, he had transformed back into his human form and decided that now would be the perfect time to make sure that the frog didn’t get the chance to defile his youngest son again and keep watch over his often reckless nephew. His human form would allow him to do both and not be recognized as he tailed the boys to the club, knowing they were too busy in their own little world to even notice him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh so I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and the newly added prologue! I'll be adding the other chapters relatively soon so that everything is caught up with the AFF version. I hope you guys enjoy this fic as much as I enjoy writing it! Unitl next time bye~


	3. I'll Make You Hotter

“Took you guys long enough to get here,” Minho said as he moved to shake Kai’s hand after the other got out of the car. He had been waiting outside for them for almost half an hour before he finally saw Kai’s silver Porsche pull up in front of Club BamBam.

Kai smiled back after giving his keys to one of the waiting valets. “Sorry man, we had to make sure everyone was asleep before we left. Wouldn’t have wanted another twenty minute lecture from my dad about shirking my responsibilities again.”

Minho chuckled at his words before wrapping an arm around Taemin’s shoulders. “Hey baby, you look absolutely stunning tonight,” he said as he pecked his cheek once they had made their way inside the club. The music was pulsating as the group made their way through the packed cluster of bodies to the V.I.P section where their other friends, Tao and Baekhyun, were waiting.

Meanwhile, outside the club’s front doors, Jonghyun had been stopped at the door by one of the bouncers and he was steadily becoming more frustrated. “Look buddy, my son’s in there with some frog face loser who plans on defiling him,” he insisted as he tried to unsuccessfully bypass the bouncer, only to get pushed back.

“Aren’t you a little young to be having a son that can go to a club?” The bouncer asked as he gave Jonghyun a quizzical look. “But that’s besides the point. You aren’t getting in unless you’re on the list, pal. So I suggest you beat it before I make you leave,” the bouncer grunted out before turning his attention back to the long line of clubgoers who were waiting to get in.

“I’m not going anywhere until you let me in!” Jonghyun demanded as he once again attempted to muscle his way past the intimidating bouncer. The bouncer grabbed Jonghyun and was in the process of throwing him out before the radio attached to his hip buzzed through.

A charismatic voice that Jonghyun would have known anywhere rang through the radio. “My dear Taecyeon, there seems to be a commotion outside the doors of my club. What seems to be the problem?”

The man apparently known as Taecyeon paled upon hearing his boss' voice and scrambled to respond back, releasing Jonghyun in the process. “N-n-nothing Mr.Wang, just some idiot by the name of Kim Jonghyun causing trouble. It’s not something I can’t handle, sir,” Taecyeon stuttered back through the radio.

“Kim Jonghyun? The Kim Jonghyun? Why didn’t you say so in the first place?” Mr.Wang asked incredulously. “Let him in, he’s an old friend of mine.” Jonghyun couldn’t help but smirk as he saw the terrified look that Taecyeon gave him after hearing that statement. “Oh, and Taecyeon, we’ll have to have a little chat later on.”

“I am so sorry Mr. Kim. No hard feelings, right?” Taecyeon gulped as he extended his hand out to dust off Jonghyun before clearing the way for him to enter the club. Once inside, Jonghyun surveyed his surroundings before making his way to the bar situated closest to the V.I.P section where he could keep a watchful eye over his two sons, nephew, and that horrible frog without them even noticing.

 

* * *

Back with the boys, they were currently enjoying their second round of drinks, with the exception of Kai, who was the designated driver for the night, when a familiar mop of green hair by the name of Sehun approached the booth they were sitting at. “Hey guys, sorry it took me so long to get here,” he said as he took the only available seat next to a surprised Kai. Tao and Baekhyun only exchanged a knowing look as they downed their shots of soju.

“Oh yeah, we kinda invited Sehun too, hope you don’t mind buddy,” Minho said after he finished his second shot of soju. Kai only gave a nervous nod before ordering another round of drinks for everyone at the table.

An hour later, everybody at the table, excluding Kai, were pretty much wasted. Taemin and Minho were busy sharing drunken kisses and then breaking into fits of laughter moments later while Tao was nowhere to be found and Kyungsoo and Baekhyun had disappeared among the sea of bodies on the dance floor. Meanwhile Sehun was only just starting to feel the effects of the alcohol after his sixth shot. Needless to say, he was probably the only one of the group who could actually hold his liquor.

“How about we join Baek and Kyungsoo on the dancefloor, baby?” Minho asked after he and Taemin broke apart from another sloppy kiss. Taemin could only nod his head before letting a drunken giggle as he took Minho’s extended hand and followed him to the dance floor, leaving Sehun and Kai alone at the table.

“So…” Kai began as he tried to make small talk. “About earlier today...I’m sorry about how I acted. I shouldn’t have been such a dick to you.”

Sehun just shook his head. “It’s not necessary, I probably shouldn’t have yelled at you like that, after all you’re a pretty good dancer on your own.” Kai offered a small grin after hearing his statement. “But you’ll never be as good as me.” Sehun jokingly added.

“You think so, Oh?” Kai retorted cheekily, earning a smirk from Sehun. “Because I’m pretty sure I can out-dance you anytime, anywhere.”

“How about now, Kim?” Sehun asked as he got out of his seat and headed to the dance floor, beckoning for Kai to follow. Kai used all his willpower not to stare at Sehun’s glorious ass and lose control as they made their way to the dance floor, passing by Tao, who had finally reappeared and was making out with some guy against the wall. Kai couldn’t help but chuckle knowing that Tao probably wouldn’t be leaving with them tonight.

By the time they had reached the dance floor the song had changed to EXO’s Playboy, making things even more intense as the two started moving to the beat of the song, their eyes never once leaving each other while they moved almost as one underneath the flashing lights of the club. Out of the corner of his eye Kai could see Kyungsoo and Baekhyun grinding against each other, their faces mere inches from each other. Kai had never seen him be so aggressive with someone he was romantically interested in and silently cheered his cousin on for finally gaining the courage to express some interest in his longtime crush. He turned his attention back to Sehun who at this point was pulling some delightfully sinful dance moves that made Kai want to take him right there in the middle of the club.

“Still think you’re a better dancer than me, Oh?” Kai said before pulling Sehun closer, not receiving any complaints from Sehun, allowing his hands to wander all over Sehun’s firm ass. Sehun only gave a playful smirk as they continued their dance, the two caught up in their own world.

 

* * *

Meanwhile, Jonghyun had been keeping a careful eye on everything happening at the club, including seeing his boys dancing intimately with their respective partners. Before he could wallow any further in his self-pity, he noticed a vaguely familiar figure sitting in one of the V.I.P booths that overlooked the entire club. The raven-haired man had a well defined jaw and a smoldering gaze that only added to the intimidating aura he gave off. There was a small, distinctive scar that ran along the side of his face and he was dressed in an all black suit.

“There’s no way he’s here. We sealed him off centuries ago," Jonghyun thought as he stared at the man. He knew that he and the boys were in danger and he needed to get them out of there immediately. He rushed out onto the dance floor towards spots where he’d last seen the boys. Kai and Taemin were still dancing with their partners, but Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were nowhere to be seen. He made his way over to Taemin and Minho who weren’t paying any attention to anything but themselves.

“I’m going to give you two five seconds to let go of each other before I make you let go,” Jonghyun practically growled out, startling both of the boys, Minho letting out a very unmanly high-pitched shriek.

“Dad, what are you doing here?!” Taemin fumed.

“Nevermind the reason I’m here, you guys are in danger and I need to get all of you back to the mansion before anything happens to you guys,” Jonghyun said as he continued looking around the club for Kyungsoo and Baekhyun. “I need you to go tell Jongin and his little human friend that we have to leave the club now. Make sure you grab Tao on the way out. Once you have everyone together, I want you to meet me by the Land Rover. Whatever you do, please don’t draw any attention to yourselves,” Jonghyun finished before he made his way towards the men’s bathroom where he assumed that the drunken Kyungsoo and Baekhyun would be hiding out.

He wasn’t quite prepared to walk in on his son and his best friend making out heatedly against the one of the sinks, both of their pants unbuttoned and shirts halfway off. They both jumped at the sudden intrusion and once they saw who it was, they attempted to salvage their disheveled appearances to no avail.

“I’m not going to say anything right now, but we’re going to have a talk later on, young man, but for now we have to leave the club immediately.”

Both boys nodded and followed Jonghyun as he ushered them out of the club, making sure to stay out of the man’s line of sight. They made it to the parking lot where the others were waiting for them. He noticed a rather pissed off looking Tao grumbling something about 'cockblocking, rich assholes' and how he almost didn’t get the phone number of the guy he was with. Jongin was busy talking to the green-haired boy from earlier, but he didn’t bother listening to their conversation knowing there was a much more important matter at hand.

“I know you guys are probably wondering why we had to leave the club early, but an extremely urgent matter has come up and we need to get out of here as soon as possible.” Jonghyun then turned his attention to Minho. “As much as it pains me to say it, frog face, you and the others will have to at least stay the night with us at the mansion. We’ll explain everything to you guys in the morning so don’t worry about anything.”

The boys nodded in acknowledgement and got in the car. “Kai, we have to leave now! You can flirt later!” he called out to Jongin who was still talking to Sehun.

Jongin blushed a little at his uncle’s statement before turning back to Sehun. “I guess I better get going, he can be really pushy if he doesn’t get what he wants,” he said with a sheepish grin.

Sehun offered a small smile back. “So I guess I’ll be seeing you tomorrow at dance practice, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll make it my personal business to be there,” Jongin beamed. “Just so you know, I had a great time tonight, dude. You really are a phenomenal dancer, Sehun, and I hope we can start over again.”

Sehun smirked at Kai’s statement. “Don’t tell me you’re going to get soft on me because of one dance, Kim.” Kai turned even redder upon hearing Sehun’s words. “You better get going, Kai, your cousin looks pretty pissed. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Sehun said, referencing Jonghyun, who was tapping his foot impatiently. Kai nodded before making his way to the car, turning to glance back at Sehun one last time as he got in and shut the door to the car.

Jonghyun, seeing that everyone was finally in the car, sped off hastily in hopes of getting back to the mansion as fast as possible. The car ride back was relatively silent as the boys were starting to feel the beginnings of a hangover and didn’t want to add anymore tension to the situation. Jonghyun kept glancing into the mirror to check on the boys, noticing Kyungsoo and Baekhyun trying their best to avoid any contact with each other, which was rather hard given the fact that they were practically crammed in the backseats of the truck. Taemin and Tao had dozed off while Minho tried to avoid any potential eye contact with Jonghyun. Meanwhile Jongin had been staring out the window for the majority of the ride, his mind occupied by other things. Once they arrived at the mansion, the group rushed inside with Jongin and Minho holding up Tao and Taemin’s weight since they were still asleep.

Jonghyun partially transformed once they were inside. “Jongin,take Taemin to his bedroom.” Jongin nodded as he made his way up the stairs with Taemin in tow. Jonghyun turned to Minho. “You, Tao and Baekhyun are going to be staying in the guest bedrooms."

Baekhyun and Minho nodded and began to head up the stairs with Kyungsoo following close behind. Making sure that the boys were settled in and asleep, Jonghyun rushed to Yifan and Chanyeol’s bedroom, pounding on the door harshly in hopes that Yifan would answer the door. After two minutes of knocking, he was greeted by the sight of a rather pissed off and very naked Yifan.

“You better have a damn good reason for waking me up, Jonghyun,” Yifan hissed as he attempted to stiffle a yawn.

“I saw him.”

Yifan could sense the urgency and a hint of fear in Jonghyun’s tone. “Saw who?”

“Joon. He’s back.”  


	4. Beware the Dog

Yifan stared at Jonghyun in complete disbelief. "What do you mean he is back? We sealed him away centuries ago." They both knew very well what the implications of this meant, not only for them.

“I caught a glimpse of him when I followed the kids to the club tonight,” Jonghyun said as he went on to give Yifan a brief synopsis of the night’s events.

Yifan nodded, but before he could respond, he heard a loud yawn come from his and Chanyeol’s shared bed. After wrapping a sheet around himself, Chanyeol approached the brother-in-laws with a sleepy look.

“Meet me in my study, I’ll be down as soon as I take care of Chanyeol,” Yifan whispered. Jonghyun went on to make his way down the hall.

“Yifan, what’s all the noise about?” Chanyeol mumbled while he rubbed his eyes. Yifan couldn’t help but smile at his mate’s cuteness.

“Don’t worry, honey. Jonghyun wanted to discuss a few things with me in the study. It’s nothing for you to worry about,” Yifan said as he caressed Chanyeol’s cheek. “Go back to bed, I’ll be joining you shortly.” Chanyeol nodded and made his way back to their bed. He spared Yifan one last glance before dozing off.

“You do realize the problem we’ll have on our hands if what you say is true?” Kris said as he turned to Jonghyun after closing the door to his study and took a seat at his desk.

“What are we going to do about it, Yifan?” he asked, voice full of uncertainty. “We can’t be sure that Joon is alone and that his presence won’t stir the gwisin again as it did last time. We don’t even know how he escaped or if he saw the boys.”

“I know,” Yifan replied firmly. “I’ll have to inform Siwon immediately and I want you to tell Jackson to keep a lookout for anything suspicious. We should probably give Ravi a heads up in case the gwisin begins to cause trouble again.”

“Yifan, we may have one more problem,” Jonghyun said hesitantly, attempting to avoid Yifan’s questioning gaze. “There was another human with the boys tonight.” Yifan's ears perked up in interest. “It was Jongin’s destined, the Oh boy. The only problem is that if Joon did see them, then he may go after him.”

Yifan scoffed. “Don’t worry, Jonghyun. When or if the time comes, Jongin will know what to do in order to ensure his mate’s safety. Besides, this may be the one thing that will teach Jongin the true meaning of responsibility and caring for someone other than himself. Regardless of what happens, you should get some rest - you’re going to need it,” the younger pointed out as he stood up from his seat.

  
“Maybe you’re right, Yifan,” Jonghyun mused aloud as he opened the door. “In whatever case, it looks like you’re going to be pulling another all nighter, my friend,” he said dismissively as he closed the door, leaving Yifan alone with his thoughts.


	5. Symptoms

 

_“Ngh-! Fuck Soo right there!" Baekhyun moaned after Kyungsoo hit his prostate dead on, leaving him a writhing mess as the elder boy continued his erratic thrusting._

_“Jesus Baek, you don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this moment” Kyungsoo managed to rasp out as he felt his knot begin to swell in Baekhyun’s hole. Both boys released moans as they could feel themselves getting closer to the edge._

_“Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun breathed out as Kyungsoo’s knot reached it full size and Kyungsoo released inside of him._

_“Baekhyun-ah!”_

_“Soo wake up~” Baekhyun’s soft voice brings him down from his high._

_“What?”_

_“Soo wake up…” Baekhyun’s voice becomes deeper and more distant._

_“What the hell?”_

 

* * *

 

Kyungsoo woke to the sight of a smirking Jongin and a flushing Taemin who was trying (and failing) to contain his laughter standing beside his bed. It only took a minute for a scowl to form on his face after noticing the pair.

Jongin decided to speak up first. "Jesus hyung, you sure do have a big mouth. You should've heard yourself moaning out Baekhyun's name."

Kyungsoo began to blush at the very mention of his best friend's name as the memories of last night came flooding back to him. Thanks to his species' fast healing ability, he can't suffer from hangovers. "What the hell are you talking about, Jongin?! It's too early for this," he growled out in an attempt to cover up his blatant embarrassment.

"Actually, it's almost time for me and Jongin to head out for class and for you to head to the studio with Baek. The guys have already left for class, I told them we’d join them later. Besides, if you want to know so bad, why don't you check out the giant wet spot on the sheet?" Taemin managed to get out, still trying to hold in his laughter. Jongin's smirk grew even wider after he motioned to the aforementioned spot.

Kyungsoo looked at his sheet and blushed even redder (if possible) at the sight that greeted him. It turned out Jongin was indeed right and that there was a very noticeable wet spot that was quickly drying and turning white. Taemin finally gave up on holding in his laughter and began to giggle uncontrollably, tears almost rolling down his face.

"Why you little-!" Kyungsoo seethed. "I'll teach you assholes to laugh at me-"

Before he could follow through on that promise, the sound of the door opening caused the boys to stop what they were doing. Jongin opened it fully to reveal a rather irritated looking Kibum.

"Save the fighting for another day boys, your grandparents are waiting for you downstairs." Kibum's usual youthful smile replaced his frown before he walked away and left the boys to their own bubble again.

Kyungsoo turned to his idiot brother and cousin with a dumbfounded expression gracing his face. "Why didn't you tell me grandmother and grandfather were here?"

The duo shared a look and shrug before Taemin spoke up. "Why do you think we were trying to wake you up for the last fifteen minutes?"

 

* * *

 

“There are my precious grandsons!” Heechul exclaimed upon the boys’ arrival in the main living room. “Come here and give your grandmother a hug!” the excited brunet exclaimed, and the boys each went to give him one.

“It’s good to see you again, grandma,” Taemin giggled after he finished hugging Heechul.

“Aw, sad to see you guys give your grandmother more love than me,” a deep voice remarked jokingly. The trio followed the sound of the voice to find a tall man standing at the entrance to the room, a dimpled smile gracing his face.

“Grandpa!” Jongin and Taemin called once they recognized the man to be their grandfather. The trio was enveloped in a tight hug by their grandparents. “It seems like so long since we’ve last seen you boys,” Heechul stated in a slightly dramatic tone once they broke apart.

Jongin grinned at his grandmother’s exaggeration, “Grandma, it’s only been two months since you’ve last seen us.”

“I know, it just seems like everytime I see you boys, you’ve either grown taller or different in some way.” Heechul, known for being just a tad bit over dramatic and definitely the sassiest vixen in the existence of both realms, feigned sorrow, “I just wish you guys weren’t growing up so fast.”

“Um, grandma, you do realize we’re all over 150 years old, right?” Heechul blinked at Jongin's statement.

“Jongin does have a point,” Siwon chimed in.

“Whatever Wonnie, they’ll always be babies to me,” Heechul remarked saucily. “Besides, if I do recall correctly, according to the humans, the boys would still be considered teenagers.”

“You seem to be right, honey,” Siwon marvelled, contemplating Heechul’s statement for a moment. “I must be a few decades out of touch with the human ways.”

“While it’s always fun to see you guys, why are you here?” Kyungsoo inquired, his grandparents immediately starting to ramble in an attempt to tackle subject as they’ve been told to.

“Well... uh… you see...,” Siwon hesitated, trying to think of a way to explain the situation. “Your grandma seems to believe I’m not getting enough fresh air, so he forced me to come here for his next shopping trip,” he attempted to lie convincingly. “Unfortunately, some _Spirit World_ business came up that your father, uncle, and I need to attend to.”

“And I’m here for my monthly shopping trip to Myeongdong with your mothers!” Heechul interjected. “We might actually have time to visit some of the new shops, they’ve opened.”

“Okay...?” Kyungsoo decided to not probe any further, knowing he probably won’t get a straight answer out of either one of them. Looking down at his watch he noticed that they only have a half hour before class begins. “Well, would you look at the time. We probably should get going if we don’t want to be late….”

“Why don’t you let your dearest grandmother drive you to school? After all, it is our fault for you guys running behind schedule,” Heechul offered.

“That won’t be necessary, grandma.” Jongin politely declined. “We can just get the limo to take us to school.”

“Bah, nonsense! No grandchildren of mine will take a _limo_ as long as I can drive!”

 _‘That’s the thing, grandma, you can’t drive. In fact, you’re the worst driver I know…'_ Jongin cringed internally at the thought of having to endure another infamous car ride with their grandmother “Really grandma it’s okay-”

“Jongin, your grandmother is being kind enough to take time out of his day to drive you guys to school, the least you can do is accept his offer.” Chanyeol scolded with Kibum nodding in agreement.

“Do we need to reteach you boys your manners?” Kibum asked sternly to which the trio vehemently shook their heads no.

With a sigh Jongin finally conceded, “Fine, grandma, you can drive us to school.”

 

* * *

 

 

After an awkward drive filled with Heechul nearly causing two accidents, making terrible turns, driving onto curbs, going through God knows how many red lights, and asking the boys rather embarrassingly intimate questions about their love lives, they'd finally arrived on campus in one piece. During the course of the ride, Kai had even texted Sehun he might be a little late or might not be able to make it at all because of his grandmother’s bad driving.

"You can drop us off right here, grandma," Kai said as they pull up near the campus entrance. His blonde hair was tousled all over the place as he tried to regain his breath. Taemin and Kyungsoo weren’t doing much better, clinging to each other while Kai was still gripping his seat for dear life, even after Heechul had put the car into park.

“Are you sure? I can pull up closer if you want me to.”

“No! I mean, no thanks, grandma, that definitely won’t be necessary,” Kyungsoo practically shouted after he finally let go of his brother and grabbed his things beside him.

The boys get out the car and were making their way inside when Heechul rolled down the window. “Have a great day at school boys! Grandma loves his little Kyungie-wungie, Taeminnie, and Kai-bear!” he yelled to the boys, gaining the attention of the other students on the street before driving off, leaving behind a very flushed trio of boys attempting to avoid their classmates questioning stares.

 

* * *

 

“Well, well, well, looks like the two rich boys finally decided to join me,” Sehun smirked when he saw Taemin and Jongin attempting to sneak into the dance studio. Taemin stopped what he's doing and beamed at his friend despite his slightly disheveled appearance. "Sorry about being late, Sehun, we ran into a little bit of car trouble earlier."

“Nah, you guys made it here in one piece so I’m assuming your grandmother’s driving wasn’t too bad.”

Taemin was a bit shocked at Sehun's statement since he had hadn't mentioned anything about his grandmother's arrival to his best friend. Sehun caught on to his friend's confusion. "If you're wondering how I know that it's because some Mr. Kim Kai kept texting me when you guys were en route thinking you guys were going to be goners," he stated before Taemin could even get his question out. The other boy just rolled his eyes. It was amazing to see how much their friendship had grown in the three short years after they had met in Sehun's senior year of high school.

"Anyways, you came right on time, I was in the middle of warm ups so we can just pick up from there and then run through our choreography."

Kai and Taemin nodded, and with that, they proceeded to get down to business.

 

* * *

 

"Crap, I’m late for lunch with Minho!” Taemin suddenly exclaimed before jumping up to grab his stuff. “I’m really sorry Sehun, it’s our six month anniversary and I promised Minho that I’d spend the rest of the day with him after practice, but we ran over-” he tried to explain but Sehun waved him off from his stretched out position.

“As your captain I should probably tell you no…” Sehun began with a slightly stern voice, “But as your best friend I know how much he means to you, so you can leave early,” he finished, flashing a rare smile to the other boy. Taemin did a little fist pump and gave his best friend a hug before running out the door to go meet his boyfriend.

Kai, who had been watching the whole scene was rather shocked to see Sehun acting like this and openly showing emotions. Within the last 24 hours, he’d seen more expression from Sehun than he had in the three years he’d known him.

“I hope you don’t think this means you’ll be getting any freebies from now on. We still have our part in the showcase to get ready for,” Sehun remarked, breaking Kai from his thoughts.

Kai rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t expecting any to be honest. Besides, I figured you were looking for an excuse to be alone with me, especially after last night.”

Sehun's face flushed as he remembered their rather intense dance. “I have no idea what you mean, Kim. What happened last night was because you seem to hold this belief that your dance skills are somehow better than mine," he huffed in an attempt to cover up his obvious embarrassment, causing Kai to smirk knowing he had struck a nerve with the younger.

“Sure, because grinding on me was definitely a great way to prove your superiority,” Kai replied sarcastically. “By the way, you didn’t seem to object when I grabbed your ass, which I must say is pretty wonderful.”

“Shut the fuck up, Kim, and get back to work!” Sehun snapped. “Unlike you, I actually need to pass this class since I don’t have my parents’ money to fall back on, so get off your lazy ass so we can finish practicing.”

“Jesus Oh, what the hell is your problem? I was only kidding, can’t you take a joke?” Kai asked, feeling rather offended by Sehun’s comment.

“Aw, did I hurt the pretty boy’s feelings?” Sehun sneered mockingly. “Whatever, just turn on the music.” 

 

* * *

 

 

An hour later, both boys were panting and stretched out on the floor. They had finally called time on practice only after they went through their performance set five times. A rather awkward silence had descended on them as both them were trying to catch their breath. Suddenly Sehun shot up with a worried look on his face, frantically patting his pants as though he had lost something.

“Shit!”

 Kai gave him a quizzical look. “What?”  
 

I can’t find my phone!” Sehun practically shouted as he continued to scour the studio for the missing item. “Fuck! I just had it in my pocket earlier! God dammit!” He let out a huff of frustration before placing his head in his hands. “This is the second time today, I was doing so well over the last two weeks,” he muttered with Kai barely making out the words.

Glancing at the slightly disassembled pile where their clothes and bags were, Kai noticed a small device hanging out of one of Sehun’s duffle bag pockets. He grabbed it and went over to where Sehun was sulking, taking a seat beside him.

“So, um, I assume this is what you were looking for?” he said, placing the cell phone in Sehun’s lap, offering a small smile when the younger met his gaze.

“Where di-”

 “It was sticking out of your duffle bag, in case you were wondering,” Kai stated simply, ignoring Sehun’s mini meltdown moments before.

“Oh," was all the other boy could say, becoming flustered all over again.

“So, want to tell me what all that was about earlier?” Kai asked, interrupting the pregnant silence that neither knew had settled between them again.

He suddenly began feeling even more ashamed for his actions. “Um, about that, I’m really sorry about how I reacted and I shouldn’t have been so defensive and then with what just happened with the whole ‘cell phone’ situation-”

“Sehun!” Kai called before Sehun could go on with his rambling. “You’re fine. I probably shouldn’t have reacted like that. As for the ‘cell phone’ situation, you’re fine, everyone forgets sometimes,” Kai reassured him, knowing that the younger really couldn’t help himself.

“Really? By now most people wouldn’t have wanted anything more to do with me, especially with how I’ve been treating you,” the other said, not as sure of himself.

“It’s fine, I promise you,” Kai replied calmly “You know what? How about, as a peace offering, we go to the amusement park tomorrow since it’s a Saturday? I can pick you up at 2.” He offered kindly with a genuine smile.

“Fine. Whatever, it’s not like I have anything better to do tomorrow anyways,” Sehun grumbled out, trying to mask his excitement at the possibility of going on a date/being able to hang out with Kai.

“Besides, we might finally be able to get to know each other better so that we can come to an understanding with one another.

“Whatever, just don’t be late, Kim.” Sehun scoffed.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, in the Spirit World, as the sun was beginning to set, three men walked swiftly through the lavish palace gardens to the war room. Once they arrived at their destination, they were greeted by the sight of two other tall and imposing men waiting for them inside.

“Hello father,“ the tallest of the group said in a deep voice, standing up from his seat. He then turned to the other two. “And to you too, my brothers.”

“Good evening, your majesties. Nice to see you again, Jonghyun,” the shorter of the two, a man with blue hair greeted the others once they had walked inside. Siwon and Yifan gave a nod of acknowledgement since they had just seen the other less than 24 hours ago.

“Nice to see you too, Seunghyun and you too, brother.” Jonghyun said as they take their seats at the table. He takes note at the relative emptiness of the room, knowing that there should have been more royal family members there.

Picking up on the younger’s confusion, Seunghyun spoke up. “If you’re wondering where the others are, they couldn’t make it because they are currently fighting the influx of gwisin around Korea and the Spirit World.”

“It’s true, father, I’ve seen it first hand in Yeosu.” Yunho stated. “That’s the reason Jaejoong decided not to accompany me today. He wanted to stay behind so he could help the other kumiho assigned there fend them off. Yoochun and Changmin also stayed behind to help him out.”

“Chaerin was also supposed to come, but had to cancel at the last minute because one of her fellow guardians was gravely wounded by one of the gwisin,” Siwon remarked lowly.

“Not to mention the fact that I am pretty sure I saw Joon last night at one of the clubs in Hongdae,” Jonghyun said, leaving everyone aside from Yifan in a complete state of shock.

“How is this possible?! We had him exiled and sealed off centuries ago,” Yunho fumed.

“I was just as confused as you were when Jonghyun told me last night.” Yifan stated. “You don’t think the return of the gwisin is connected to Joon’s reappearance, do you?”

"Sire, if I may say this" Seunghyun spoke up, "We have yet to have heard any news of distress or attacks from the Guardians at Mt. Jiri, but I do believe that something is amiss and that we should send another troop of Guardians there as reinforcement just to be sure that nothing has gone wrong.

"I agree, Seunghyun, I'll see to it that we do send more Guardians to Mt. Jiri. However, we’re definitely going to have to call in help from Ravi,” Siwon replied in a determined tone. “But for now we’re going to have to work with what we have and send in reinforcements, especially in and around Yeosu and Jeju.” He turned to Yifan. “I want you to call Yixing and Jongdae back to Seoul,” he paused before adding, “And no matter what, none of you are to mention this to Jinki or Junhong.”

"S-sire, surely you cannot believe that hiding the truth from the prince will be in either his or young master Junhong's interest?" Seunghyun protested in disbelief at the Lord Guardian's request. The others stayed silent, knowing that Siwon was always especially protective of his middle child.

"Seunghyun, you know just as well as I do, how much my son and grandson have suffered at the hands of that bastard." Siwon stared the other dead in the eyes, his voice icy and distant. "Jinki has had to deal with enough pain in his life, I refuse to let him or Junhong be hurt anymore."

"But father, keeping this information secret from them may cause more harm than good and the last thing we need is for Joon to find out about Junhong's existence." Yunho contended "If something were to happen to Junhong, Jinki would never be able to forgive himself or us, knowing we could have prevented it. I think honestly, it would be the thing to finally break him down."

Siwon looked as if he going to object before speaking up "Fine, but what, pray tell my dear son, do you suggest we do to ensure their safety?"

Instead of Yunho speaking up, it was Yifan who did so "If I may offer a solution, father..." Siwon gave a nod of encouragement "What if I transport Junhong to a secure location away from here? That way if Jinki will be able to fully focus on protecting his city from the gwisin."

"And how do you plan to ensure that he will be well protected? We can't afford to send any senior guardians to protect him. Where would you even send the boy?" Siwon frowned at the idea.

"We could hide him in Paris or Marseille. It's far enough away that Joon will never suspect a thing." Yifan clarified "I know a young kumiho who'd be perfect for the job of ensuring his safety."

Jonghyun shot him a questioning look "Yifan, you don't mean...?"

"Why yes I do mean him." Yifan responded nonchalantly. He turned back to the others "The kumiho we're referring to is a friend of mine and I for a fact know he will protect the prince until his last breath."

"I will grant you this, but if any harm comes to my grandson, Lee Joon will not be the only thing you have to worry about." Siwon's tone was firm as he spoke and slightly frightened the others but they all nodded in agreement. "Now, you three," He turned his gaze in the direction of the younger royal kumihos "Go alert Jinki and Junghong of what has happened and prepare him for the journey." He turned back to Seunghyun "We have quite a lot of planning to do, my old friend, and we musn't waste any time." And with that they went their seperate ways.


	6. They Say Chivalry Is Dead

Jongin could say he was pretty used to his family’s quirkiness. After all, he’d been dealing with it for close to 200 years, so he held the firm belief that at this point nothing could surprise him when it came to them. Or so he thought…

The minute he walked into the family mansion he was greeted by the sight of Kyungsoo running past him and into the living room with a grinning Kibum and Chanyeol close behind him. Jongin followed them to see Heechul and Baekhyun's mother Hakyeon clapping gleefully at the scene unfolding in front of them. They were too involved in the chaos to even notice his presence, which Jongin was thankful for.

Hakyeon turned to Heechul. "Oh my gods, Heechul-ssi, don't you think that their collection is going to sell really well this year?" to which the other nodded fervently, "Of course it will! Chanyeolie has always had a creative spark since he was a cub and Kibumie is brilliant when it comes to coming up with creative designs.”

"Umma no-!" Kyungsoo's pitiful screams could be heard as he was forced into another spring collection dress in the dining room, most likely being held by Chanyeol while Kibum put the dress on him.

Baekhyun did nothing to help his best friend out and instead went over to Jongin with a rather smug look on his face.

“I’m not even going to ask what the hell is going on, dude,” Jongin said when the other approached him.

“Just so you know, they’ve been like this for the last hour and a half. By the time mom and dad got here and dad left for the Spirit World, poor Soo was being forced to become Korea’s Next Top Model.” Baekhyun giggled as he recalled the events prior to his father’s arrival. Both boys continued to ignore Kyungsoo’s pleas coming from the other room.

"Oh yeah, I was wondering why your dad's car was parked outside the mansion," Jongin pondered aloud. "As for Satansoo, he knows better than to be home when mom and auntie are testing their new designs out." He rolled his eyes at his cousin's stupidity and shrugged. "Oh well, it's his own fault."

Before he could say anything else, a very pleased Kibum stepped back into the room with a fuming Kyungsoo in tow, his tail thrashing about irritatedly. He was dressed in a white dress with pink ruffles that flared out around the bottom that came to his thighs.

"Presenting the latest addition to Key & Chan’s Summer Collection,” Kibum announced rather proudly to his makeshift audience. “What do you guys-”

Kibum's sentence was interrupted by a loud knock at the door that captured everyone’s attention.

“Who could that be, at this time of night?” Chanyeol wondered aloud as he and Kibum go to answer the door and were greeted by the sight of a nervous looking boy texting on his phone. The boy was so caught up in what he was doing that he didn't even notice that the door had been opened.

Kibum cleared his throat, getting the boy's attention.

"You better have a good excuse for coming to this residence at this time of night, young man-" Chanyeol began sternly but stopped when he got a good look at the boy's face before he also noticed the bump that was somewhat visible underneath the boy's hoodie. He couldn't help the gasp that slipped from his mouth as he looked into the same hazel eyes he hadn't seen almost eighteen years.

"I'm so sorry to show up here unannounced, Park-ssi. M-my name is Kim Joonmyun and I'm a close friend of your son, Yixing," the young man said in a soft tone. "He told me that if I ever need help, this is the place I should come to." Kibum and Chanyeol exchanged surprised looks.

“Mom, did you find out who was at the door?” Jongin called from the living room, making his way into the main foyer where he saw his mother and aunt standing by the door.

"Uh, yes, it's one of your brother's friends." Chanyeol turned back to Joonmyun. "Of course you're welcome here Joonmyun. Would you care to join us for dinner? We could figure out a way to offer assistance to you," to which the younger nodded politely and made his way inside where he was escorted into the dining room by Jongin.

After the younger two had gone into the other room, Kibum let out an indignant huff. "Are you sure we should be letting him in the mansion with the others away?"

Chanyeol waved his question off as started to make his way inside of the mansion. "Oh please, you and I are just as powerful as Yifan and Jjong, we could hold our own completely if we needed to. Besides, I happen to know that this "friend" of Yixing is a little something more than that. Besides this boy is more familiar to us than you think." Kibum just shrugged at his friend's cryptic words and followed Chanyeol back inside.

 

* * *

 

“So, Joonmyun, tell us more about yourself and how you know Yixing," Heechul inquired before taking another bite of his food. "After all, you seem like such a nice young man." They had been at the table for the last hour and had just begun eating after a freshly changed Kyungsoo finished helping his mother prepare dinner.

Joonmyun shifted nervously in his seat. "Well, I've known Yixing for years. As a matter of fact, he was my first friend at university." He remembered the day he met the lanky boy with the chestnut hair and fox ears and the bushy tail. “We used to hang out all the time and he even helped tutor my younger brother for his entrance exams.”

“Since you and my brother were so close how come he or Jongdae never mentioned you?” Kai inquired further, not fully satisfied with the other boy’s answer. He took note of the nostalgic expression on the other’s face and how he spoke much more fondly of his brother as a hint that their relationship was more than that of just friends.

Joonmyun contemplated it for a moment. “Maybe he forgot to mention to me. After all, he isn’t noted for having the best memory,” he retorted. “As for Jongdae, he probably was too busy figuring what his next prank would be to even remember to.” At this, Jongin couldn’t help but smile as he recalled his brother’s constant pulling of pranks on not only their father but everyone else in the family.

“How are we sure that you aren’t lying? For all we know you could be some creep who just wants money from us? How-OW, Mom!” Jongin cried out after his mother slapped him in the back of his head.

“Jongin! Stop being rude to our house guest!” Chanyeol scolded, fed up with his son’s petulant behavior while the younger whimpered at being reprimanded publicly. “Now I want you to apologize to Joonmyun. He is a honored guest in our home and will be treated as such.”

“But Mom-!”

“No buts, Jongin! You apologize now or I can make a phone call to a certain someone who would be more than pleased to know that you still sleep with a night light.”

“Fine,” the younger whined and turned to Joonmyun. “I’m sorry for being a dick and I hope I haven’t offended you, Joonmyun.”

“It’s fine, no harm done," the other responds politely. "Um, by the way, can I just say your pelt colour looks extremely similar to your brother. It's so beautiful." That one shocked nearly everyone at the table except for Chanyeol and Heechul who both smiled knowingly at the young man's words.

"You're 'aware'?" Jongin stuttered out upon hearing Joonmyun's statement.

"Hehe, I may have forgotten that one little detail." The older boy responded sheepishly as he saw the looks he was getting. "My little brother and I have been able to see supernatural things ever since we were children except he brushes it as only hallucinations or nightmares but I've known otherwise for a long time.

"Well then, I'm glad that that's out of the way. Good to see that Hakyeon isn't the only ‘aware’ human at this table, but I already could sense it just like I can sense the little life growing inside you and from the looks of it the little fella will be joining us in about a little over a month or so." Heechul said in a cheerful tone and this time it was Joonmyun who fell into a stunned silence.

“What? Did you honestly think that as _Consort of the Lord Guardian_ I was known only for my good looks?” Heechul scoffed. “Siwon isn’t the only one with life sensing abilities but that’s beside the point. Anyways, Joonmyun here isn't the only the only one at this table who's expecting a new arrival," he continued nonchalantly and turned to a rather nervous looking Kibum. "Kibummie, why didn't you tell me you were expecting cubs? And twin boys nonetheless!" Heechul feigned being hurt, leading Kibum and everyone else minus Joonmyun to deadpan at his dramatic display.

"Mother, the reason I didn't say anything to anyone besides Yeol was because I wanted it to be a surprise," Kibum gritted out. "Anyways, that's completely beside the point, right now we have to deal with this. I can't believe I'm going to be a great aunt and Yixing didn't even tell me and just to think all I've done for that boy! It'll be ages before Kyungsoo gives me a grandchild!" Kibum side-eyed Kyungsoo and Baekhyun, causing the two to blush.  

"You say that, but imagine how I feel, my little Xingie has become a man!" Chanyeol started to fake sob dramatically. "How could he not tell me that I was going to be a grandmother?"

"There, there, Yeolie, I remember how I felt when Hyukie told me he was pregnant with Seokjin. Wonshik almost castrated Ken for defiling his baby and I almost passed out," Hakyeon comforted him, remembering the day he found out he was going to get his first grandkid before joining in on the over dramatic weeping session.

Chanyeol turned to Joonmyun. "Don't you dare worry about a thing, my precious son-in-law. First, I'm going to punch my idiot son for leaving his mate alone while he was pregnant, next we're going to take you out on the biggest baby shopping spree ever, and then we're going to throw the best baby shower ever!"

The three younger boys just shake their heads in disapproval at the melodramatic scene their mothers were making while Heechul continued to lament about the fact that he was getting old.

"How long do you think they'll be like this?" Baekhyun asked as they watched the older beings whisk Joonmyun away to the living room dote on him and discuss all the ways they were going to spoil the baby.

"I have absolutely no clue." Jongin shrugged.

"For all we know they could be doing this until our dads come back," Kyungsoo mused. "Poor Joonmyun doesn't even know what he started. He seems like he might be a nice guy, though."

"He has to be if he can put up with my brother's crap like that, but I still don't think we should be welcoming him with completely open arms."

"I agree, it seems weird that an 'aware' human appears on your family's doorstep claiming to be your brother's pregnant mate," Baekhyun pondered.

Before Kyungsoo could add his input his phone started ringing. He went to answer it and heard Taemin's frantic voice on the phone.

_"Kyungsoo h-hyung?! Are you there?!"_

"Taemin are you okay? Is something wrong?" Kyungsoo questioned, trying to calm the boy. Baekhyun and Jongin were mouthing "what's wrong?" when they saw the worried expression on his face.

 _"M-Minho and I were attacked! These things were trying to attack me first, but Minho took the brunt of the attack. W-we managed to scare the creatures off and now we're at the hospital. Hyung, I'm so scared right now, they took him to a separate room to examine him and they won't let me see h-him."_ The younger boy choked out sounding as if he was going to cry at any minute.

"Don't worry, I'll be there in a little while. Now can you please tell me where you guys are?"

_"W-we're at Seoul Memorial Hospital in Gangnam. Please get here soon, but whatever you do, make sure you don't tell Umma. He'd never let me out of his eyesight again and he'll probably have appa kill Minho."_

"You have my word, Tae, I'm on my way now. I'll see you soon," Kyungsoo promised the other before hanging up the phone. After he was sure the call had ended, he looked at Jongin and Baekhyun. “Taemin and Minho were attacked and now they’re at the hospital. Taemin wants me to go there but I have no idea how I’m going to leave without Umma noticing me.”

Baekhyun was deep in thought as he contemplated any possible ways they could leave without being conspicous. “Maybe we can leave through the garage or pretend that we’re going out somewhere, like the library.”

“That won’t be necessary, boys,” Kibum replied as he walked out from behind his his spot that was hidden behind the entrance archway that led to the hallway. He looked Kyungsoo dead in the eye, “I want to know what the hell is going on and I want the whole truth, so spill it Kyungsoo.”

“Long story short, Taemin and Minho are at the hospital right now and we were on our way to investigate what happened.” In hindsight it may not have been the smartest move for him to tell his pregnant mother exactly what was going on with his injured brother and boyfriend.

“Well what’s stopping us from going right now?” Kibum asked determinedly, making Baekhyun punch Kyungsoo in the arm since he’d just gone against Taemin’s wishes. It looked like it was going to be one long night.

* * *

And so after another ten minutes of trying to dissuade Key and the others managing to negotiate their way into going and a twenty minute car ride, the group finally arrived at Seoul Memorial Hospital. They were greeted by the sight of a rather crowded hospital waiting room that wasn’t unusual for a Friday night.

Noticing a rather intimidating nurse attending to the sign in area, Heechul put on his best smile and approached the desk. “Hello sir, how can I be of service?” The woman drawled out in a monotone voice.

“Hi. You’re going to tell me which room Choi Minho and Lee Taemin are being examined in,” he stated, staring the woman directly in the eyes.

“Excuse me?" she huffed indignantly.

His voice took a noticeably lower, sultry tone. “Look, sweetheart, I really dislike repeating myself so _you will_ tell me which room Lee Taemin and Choi Minho are located in."

As if in a trance the woman looked down at her computer and typed in the names before turning back to Heechul. "They're on the second floor in room 216, just take the elevator and make a right," she said mechanically.

"Thanks! You've been a real doll!" Heechul exclaimed in his usual happy voice as he went back over to where the others were waiting. "I know which room they're in!"

Kai, who'd seen the whole exchange, stood there in complete amazement at what had happened. With his occasional airheadedness and obsession with shopping, it was sometimes hard for him to believe that his grandmother was quite possibly the second most powerful being in all of East Asia after his grandfather.

Wasting no time, they made their way to the hospital room, stopping outside the door to the room. They could hear two voices coming from inside, one sounding slightly more frantic than the other. Kai pushed open the door to the sight of a barely scratched Taemin doting on Minho, whose heavily bandaged right arm was currently occupying a sling. They were too busy having a discussion to notice that the door had been opened.

"Babe, I told you the doctor said I'd be fine and that my arm will heal in about 6-8 weeks as long as I don't do anything to aggravate, it such as a moving it constantly," Minho stated calmly as Taemin tried to move him into a more comfortable position on the bed.

Taemin shook his head. "I don't care what that stupid doctor says, I want to make sure that my boyfriend is okay and perfectly comfortable after that display tonight," he retorted and placed a kiss on Minho's cheek, causing the older to blush slightly.

Before either could say anything else, Key rushed inside and practically tackled Taemin in a hug. "My baby! Are you okay?" he exclaimed as he wrapped Taemin in a bone-crushing hug.

"U-umma, why are you here?" a rather shocked Taemin asked when the other finally released him from the hug.

Kyungsoo stepped into the room, followed by everyone else. "Sorry Taemin, it was only supposed to be me, Kai, and Baek, but then mom decided he wanted to tag along and everyone joined in."

"Shh, never mind that, just tell Umma everything that happened," Key said as he checked Taemin over for injuries.

"Go on Taemin, tell us what happened so we can get to the bottom of it," Jongin pressed.

"Okay, so Minho and I were on our way home from our anniversary date and on our way back to the subway station we were on a pretty deserted street when these four guys attacked us. They went for me first and then Minho and I thought that my wind was driving them back but it only stalled them momentarily. For some reason Minho couldn't summon Haneul-ui Balam and my wind attacks weren't as strong as usual. Eventually their attacks were too strong and became too hard for us to defend. Just when I thought we were goners, Minho managed to summon Haneul-ui Balam and took the brunt of the attack for me."

"Before they could attack again, Minho and I were able to able to combine our powers for a spirit energy blast that somehow warded them off. Unfortunately the blast propelled both of us into a nearby wall. We were knocked out for a few minutes, but when we came to, Minho noticed something was wrong with his arm and he had blood running down his forehead. I was lucky and escaped with only a few scratches so I was able to help Minho get to the hospital. Once we arrived they separated us and that’s when I made the call to Kyungsoo-hyung.”

Key turned to Minho. “You risked your life for my son?” to which the human nodded, “Of course I did. Contrary to you and Jonghyun-ssi's belief, I love your son with all my heart and would gladly lay down a million of my lives just to ensure that Taemin survives to see another day.” Minho responded confidently, shocking everyone in the room at his tone and leaving the usually talkative Kibum speechless.

“Choi Minho...I know that I haven’t been the kindest to you ever since you and Taemin started your courtship, but I want you to know that at this moment I could never be prouder to call you my future son-in-law,” Key said honestly. “You’ve earned my respect, young man, and I will never ever question you again,” he finished before giving Minho a hug.

“Taemin and Minho, did you guys at least get a glimpse of what your attackers looked like?” Hakyeon inquired. 

“Yeah, kinda, their faces were somewhat obscured but, from what I could see, they looked rather disfigured and were acting as if they were controlled by something or someone.,” Minho recalled. “The whole time we fought against them, there was a cold breeze blowing.” 

“Hm, from the looks of it you guys were attacked by a pack of gwisin,” Hakyeon figured. An audible gasp came from all the older adults in the room.

“B-but h-how?” Chanyeol stuttered, fear striking his very core. “We haven’t had trouble with them in over 60 years!”

“I don’t know how or why, but maybe this has something to do with our mates leaving for the Spirit World,” Hakyeon replied.

“Um, if you don’t mind me asking, what are gwisin?” Joonmyun asked Heechul from their position in the back of the room.

“Gwisin are the natural enemies of the Kumiho and the Dragon Clan. They’re in essence the souls of people who haven’t moved on to the next life. However, they can’t because their souls are so tortured that they haven’t accepted their deaths and wander this world causing trouble in the form of attacking innocent humans or even worse, killing them. It’s our job as Guardians to ensure that they don’t destroy the balance between the worlds and its inhabitants.”

“Ohhh, then why did they attack Taemin and Minho?” 

“I don’t know. It is rather strange for them to attack in coordinated groups and then not finish their victims off. The only way it could have happened is if they were being controlled by something or someone like Taemin suggested…” Heechul trailed off, getting lost in his thoughts. The door opened, breaking the awkward silence that had unknowingly settled in the room.

"Well, Mr. Lee and Mr. Choi, it looks like you two are all set-!” The doctor halted, rather shocked to see how crowded the room had gotten in the short amount of time he'd been gone. "It's good to see you two have such a large fan base," he joked. "I guess you'll all be glad to know that Mr. Lee and Mr. Choi can go home. However..." He turned to Minho. "You, young man, should definitely take it easy with your arm and that includes no sports or sexual activity." He sent a knowing look to Taemin, "I guess you two can be on your way back home." And with that, the doctor left the room.

 

* * *

 

Once they got back to the mansion, Hakyeon and Heechul decided to retire for the night and went to their bedrooms that had been prepared by the servants. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun decided it was best if he took Taemin's room for the night and went to their respective bedrooms.

"Umma, I'm rooming with Minho tonight so I can _monitor_ my big strong hero's health overnight," Taemin said excitedly, much to Kibum's horror.

"Babe, remember what the doctor said..." Minho began, "No strenuous activities on my part, but he never said anything about you."

" _Oh, oppa..._ " Taemin gasped when he felt Minho pinch his ass, and with that, the two rushed to the other guest bedroom at the other end of the house, giggles spilling out while both thought of the promises of the night.

"YAH! AT LEAST USE A CONDOM, YOU TWO HORNDOGS!" Kibum yelled down the hallway, but the two were long gone. "How did my sweet innocent child become such a greaseball?" He muttered to himself.

Joonmyun yawned. "Well, I guess I better get going, my baby brother is probably waiting for me. I had told him I'd be gone for a while, but I wasn't expecting it be so late." He then began to leave but was stopped by Kibum's hand on his shoulder.

"Whoa, there buddy, you definitely shouldn't be going home by yourself in your condition. Especially since there's gwisin on the loose and given the fact that you're an 'aware' human, they'd likely attack you much faster. You can just stay the night here, we have plenty of guest bedrooms available."

"Are you sure? I don't want to be a burden to you guys," Joonmyun said shyly.

"Of course, it's fine," Chanyeol insisted. "No pregnant son-in-law of mine will be out by himself at this time of night. As a matter of fact, you can stay in Yixing's room tonight. His flight should be touching down by tomorrow morning."

"Really? Thank you, Chanyeol-ssi!" the younger exclaimed, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the amount of kindness his boyfriend's family was showing him. "If it's really okay with you then I'll stay. Hun should be fine by himself for one night."

"Make yourself at home, Jongin can show where Yixing's room is. Oh yeah, and Joonmyun, you don't have to worry about calling me Chanyeol-ssi, Mom will do just fine," Chanyeol said, noting Joonmyun's joyful reaction as he followed Jongin up the stairs with Kibum close behind him. He couldn't help the pang of sorrow he felt when he saw the boy's cheerful reaction. Contrary to popular belief some things didn't heal with time and this was definitely the case with what he was feeling right now.

_"Yifan, please come back soon. We have so much to discuss,"_ Chanyeol thought through his and Yifan's shared mental bond.

_"I'll be back no later than tomorrow night, honey. I promise. Now go get some rest, from the feel of your energy, it looks like you could really use some sleep."_ Yifan responded back and Chanyeol nodded in understanding. Before he went upstairs, he uttered a silent prayer erecting a spirit energy barrier around the estate with the hope that it will ward off any gwisin or other dark magical creatures lurking about.

 


	7. Let A Real Man Pick Up The Slack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm sorry it took so long to cross-post this chapter. Tbh I just wasn't feeling very up to doing any editing or writing after the 18th of last month and losing Jjong. With this fic I didn't know how'd I'd continue now that he's gone but my beta helped me realize something and it helped me to begin writing again. I promise to respect and honour his memory in the future but I promise you I'm not going to write him out of the fic or the series as a whole. I hope you enjoy this chapter of the fic and if you want to you can let me know what you think too.

Jongin woke up bright and early the next morning, feeling excited about his upcoming day out with Sehun that afternoon. He took a long shower, even going so far as to sing while he was in there. Once he was finished showering, he hopped out with an extra bounce in his step and took his time choosing his outfit for the day, going for a casual hipster look. In the end, he chose a long-sleeved grey shirt that read “Guilty”, a pair of blue jeans with a studded belt, and his black and grey pair of Nike high tops to it all off.

 

“Looking good.” He said to himself while taking in his appearance in the mirror after he got dressed. He then went downstairs and began to make himself breakfast but stopped when he picked up on the soft sounds of a guitar. Following the sounds, he ended up outside of his mother’s studio near the other side of the house. The closer he got to the studio, the more he could make out his mother’s voice softly singing along to the melody that was being played by the guitar. Once he was standing outside the room he leaned on the slightly ajar door, hoping to hear more.

 

_“There are places I remember_

_All my life, though some have changed_

_Some forever not for better_

_Some have gone and some remain_

_All these places have their moments_

_With lovers and friends, I still can recall_

_Some are dead and some are living_

_In my life, I loved you more_

 

_Though I know I’ll never lose affection_

_For people and things that went before_

_I know I’ll often stop and think about them_

_In my life, I’ll love you more_

_In my life, I’ll love you more... ”_

 

“You can come out now, Jongin,” Chanyeol chuckled after the last note rang, having already sensed Jongin’s presence outside the studio.

 

“How’d you know it was me?” a sheepish Jongin asked once he stepped into view and took a seat on one of the nearby stools.

 

“Uh, let’s see... I’m your mother, I know everything,” Chanyeol replied sarcastically after he set his guitar back on the stand.

 

“What was that song you were just playing? It sounded beautiful,” Jongin inquired as looked over a couple of the designs near him.

 

“You remember your father’s old friends Paul and John?” to which Jongin nodded. “It was one of their band’s songs, actually my favorite one to be precise. You may not remember it, but they used to visit us when you were younger, Paul still writes to your father every once in a while. Good guys, they were when they weren’t high,” Chanyeol giggled to himself before turning back to Jongin. “Now why are you up so early? Usually, you sleep in until noon, what’s got you so excited?”

 

“N-no reason, Mom, just going to hang out with a...friend! Yeah, a friend!”

 

“Mhmm, a friend you say?” Chanyeol teased. “Would that friend happened to go by the name of Oh Sehun?” He smirked, fully enjoying Jongin’s shocked reaction.

“How’d you know?!”

“Like I said, I’m your mother, I know everything,” Chanyeol nonchalantly replied. “Besides, all of your friends, minus Tao, stayed the night here so there was only one option left.”

“Wow, you really do know everything, don’t you?” The younger kumiho conceded to which the older man smirked knowingly.

“Of course I do, now get going before you’re late for your little date. By the way, your father and brothers should be back home by tonight.”

 

“It’s not a date mom!” the younger groaned, leading to Chanyeol rolling his eyes at his son’s denial. “As for Yixing and Jongdae coming home, oh joy, it’ll be great to see them again,” Jongin deadpanned. “Can’t wait to see Dad torch Yixing when he finds out about Joonmyun being pregnant,” he then said with a hint of a smirk before exiting the room, leaving his mother alone with his thoughts.

  
Chanyeol sighed. "Jongin, please be careful my son…”

 

* * *

 

Kai pulled up to the garage underneath Sehun’s apartment half an hour later and made his way inside the modest looking building, heading for the third floor. Once he was outside of the apartment he checked his phone to make sure this was the same apartment number Sehun had texted him last night. He knocked on the door and could hear someone rummaging around before the door was opened to reveal a now rainbowed haired Oh Sehun standing in nothing but his boxers. Kai could feel his face heat up as he tried not stare at the other boy’s toned body.

  


“Sorry Kai, I had just got finished showering when you knocked,” the other boy explained. “Um, you can come in and sit down while I finish getting dressed.” Sehun motioned for Kai to come inside the apartment. Sehun’s apartment wasn’t too fancy, just a moderately sized two bedroom that had various clothes and games strewn all over the place. He sat down on the couch while Sehun went back to his room and noted the half-empty medicine bottle that was next to an empty soda can on the coffee table.

 

“Hmm... are those what I think they are?” Kai thought to himself before picking the bottle up to inspect it. Sure enough, the bottle read:

 

Patient Name: Oh Sehun

Prescription: Vyvanse

Instructions: Take one tablet every day orally for ADHD-inattentive type or ADD

 

Before he could investigate further, he was broken from his thoughts by the sound of Sehun’s bedroom door reopening, causing him to set the bottle back down before the other boy saw him holding it.

A fully dressed Sehun was waiting rather impatiently for him by the door cellphone in hand.

 

“So are we gonna sit here all day or are we going to Seoul Land?” Sehun asked, his bratty attitude starting to show through.

 

“Oh yeah, sure.” Kai got up from his seat and followed Sehun out the door. “I don’t know why we’re in such a rush to get there, the park just opened for the day,” Kai remarked while Sehun made sure his door was locked.

 

“Because Seoul Land is an hour drive away and, by the time we get there, the lines are going to be long and we won’t be able to ride any of the good rides,” Sehun replied when he finished checking, whining out the last part.

 

“Ugh, fine let’s get a move on,” to which Sehun nodded and led Kai back to the garage and his car.

 

“Sorry about the mess, my brother, Joonmyun, usually is the one who does most of the cleaning, but he didn't come home last night. Probably out chasing after his stupid deadbeat boyfriend…” Sehun mumbled once they had started driving.

 

_“Yeah, he was too busy becoming pals with my family,”_ Kai thought to himself. “No worries dude, it’s fine. I didn’t even know you had a brother.”

 

“Really? I’m pretty sure I mentioned him before and he even came to one of our winter showcases earlier this year.” Kai just shrugged his shoulders at Sehun’s response, while keeping his eyes on the road “Well anyways he found he was pregnant about four months ago and what does his asshole boyfriend do the night he tells him?

 

“What?” Kai questioned, feeling genuinely interested in why Sehun harbored an extreme dislike for his brother.

 

“He tells him that he’s going to be leaving for Europe soon with his brother and doesn’t know how long he’s going to be gone. No, _I'm happy'_ s or anything of the sort. All he left my brother with was a kiss and an “I love you” before he disappeared for the past three months with no sign or word from him.” Sehun huffed growing increasingly agitated as he thought about the situation. “The asshole could’ve at least written to him but no, he left him completely in the dark! I guess that’s why Joonmyun decided to go seek out his family last night and maybe get an update on his condition.”

 

“Wow, that guy sounds like a genuine dick, to be honest,” Kai responded, shocked by his brother’s behavior. “Seems like you and your brother are pretty close though.”

 

“Yeah, we are, he’s the one who raised me,” Sehun stated. “Our parents disappeared and left us at an orphanage when I was really young, so I don’t really remember them but I do remember Joonmyun taking care of me since day one.”

 

“I wish my brothers and I were that close…” Kai trailed off, thinking back to his childhood. “Since they were older than me they were pretty much always studying or with my dad on business trips. It kinda sucked…”

 

“Well, that’s not good, but it’s never too late for you guys to fix your relationship,” Sehun attempted to reassure the older boy.

 

“Yeah, I guess so…” Kai then shifted his attention back to the road, letting a calming silence settle in the car. Sehun took to staring at the passing scenery while Kai occasionally glanced over at him, sighing internally at the other’s beauty. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, he was completely in love with Sehun even though he was sure the other was completely oblivious to his feelings. _'Guess that's one of the joys of having a human for a destined mate.'_ Kai thought to himself.

 

They arrived at the park about fifteen minutes later and sure enough the lines at the entrance were already outrageously long. Letting out a sigh of defeat, Sehun trudged over to one of the overflowing lines, not missing out the questioning look Kai gave him. “Why are you standing in that line?” he called to Sehun near the entrance gate.

 

“What do you mean “why am I standing in line”, dumbass? Isn’t that how normal people get into an amusement park?” he shouted back, earning looks of disapproval from nearby elderly people and adults for his vulgar language.

 

Kai walked over to him. “I texted you saying my family has free entrance into the park because we’re friends with the owner. Did you even read it?” he whispered to the other, hoping not to draw any more attention to themselves.

  
Sehun went through his messages and saw that he had one unread message from Kai. He looked back up at Kai. “Oops... we should probably go through the other gate then,” he said rather sheepishly and followed Kai to the other entrance.

 

Once they were inside the park, Kai pulled up a map of the park on his phone. “So, where do you want to go first? We can either head to the Games Room or the King Viking ride. It’s up to you.”

 

“C’mon, we’re going to the Games Room first, I totally want to see how many games I can kick your ass in.” And with that, he took off for their new destination, dragging Kai along with him. They ended up having a friendly competition that ended with Sehun beating Kai in all five of the games they decided to play.

 

 

“I want a rematch!” Kai demanded when they left the arcade. “You must have cheated because I never lose,” the blonde whined petulantly while Sehun looked up their next destination.

 

 

“Cry all you want, Kim, I won fair and square,” Sehun replied once he found it. “Besides, didn’t you say you wanted to get on the King Viking ride?” to which the moping boy nodded. “Then come on, let’s go before the line gets too long.” And with that, Sehun was once again dragging the elder to another attraction.

 

* * *

 

When they got to the ride, Sehun (having not realized the type of ride it was) had second thoughts about riding it, but before he could get off, Kai pulled him closer to him. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you. Nothing’s gonna happen to you while we’re on here, I promise,” he assured Sehun calmly, causing the younger to blush. “You trust me, right?”

  


“Y-yeah, I g-guess so,” the flustered boy nodded as the ride started moving, gripping onto Kai for dear life. He stayed like that until the ride ended and they were a reasonable distance from it.

 

“See? I told you nothing would happen,” Kai remarked after Sehun finally let go of him. “You should trust me more often, I never break my promises.”

 

Sehun scoffed, reverting back to his usual bratty self. “Whatever, Kim, the only reason I held onto you was that some creep kept staring at me before the ride even started,” he lied.

  
“Sure~” Kai rolled his eyes. “Come on, it’s your turn to choose the next ride," he said as he pulled up the map again.

 

They ended up riding a few more rides until Sehun forced Kai to come with him to the Midway section of the park where they played some more games and won some stuffed animals. Both decided that it was time for them to grab something to eat, but before they got to the concessions stand Kai noticed a young boy crying because he had lost one of the games. The boy’s mother was trying to comfort him, to no avail.

  


“I’ll be right back,” he said as he gave Sehun his stuffed animals except for one.

 

“Wait-what?” The rainbow-haired teen was confused at the other’s words until he saw where Kai was headed.

 

Kai knelt beside the crying child and held out the stuffed dog. “Hey buddy, I noticed you were crying and I wanted to give you this,” he said to the still crying boy.

 

“R-really I can have t-this, a-ahjussi?” the child sniffled as he grabbed the toy.

 

Kai nodded. “Only if you promise that you will take really good care of him and turn that frown upside down for me, little buddy."

 

The young boy vehemently nodded before he ran back to his mother to show her his new toy. “Mommy look! That nice ahjussi gave me this!” he shouted excitedly.

 

“Wow, that’s such a nice plushie, Jinyoung! Did you say thank you to the ahjussi?” she asked to which the young boy shook his head.

 

He ran back over to Kai. “Thank you, ahjussi, I’ll make sure I take good care of him," he said before running back to his mom. Jinyoung took one last look at Kai and waved goodbye, heading off hand in hand with his mother.

 

Kai walked back over to Sehun and picked up his stuff, missing the look of approval Sehun gave him. They walked over to the food court was and Sehun grabbed a table for them in one of the deserted pavilions near the food court while Kai went to grab their food.

 

_"C’mon Kai, I really want my strawberry bubble tea,"_ Sehun thinks to himself while playing a game on his phone. The next time he looked up, he saw two guys making their way towards him with smirks and somewhat ravenous looks on their faces. Both were tall and had a toned look to them and one could obviously tell that their hair was dyed.

 

The shorter one of the duo stopped directly in front of Sehun, blocking his line of sight. “What's a cutie like you doing sitting here all by yourself?” he asked cockily when Sehun finally acknowledged their presence.

 

“Wouldn’t you like to know, asshole?” Sehun scoffed, looking the boy directly in the face.

 

“Hey, Junhyung looks like we’ve got a real feisty one on our hands." The taller of the duo smirked at Sehun’s tone of voice.

 

“You’re right, Dongwoon, just like I like them,” Junhyung replied to the other before turning back to Sehun. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, we’ll fix that attitude by the end of the night.”

 

“I wouldn’t bet on it, dickhead. Now get lost, don’t you have some other person you can harass? I’d hate to be known as the person who kicked someone’s ass in Seoul Land,” Sehun practically growled out, hoping Kai would come back soon.

 

“Aw, baby don’t be cruel, I only want to get to know you and maybe get into those tight skinny jeans while I’m at it-!”

 

Before Junhyung could say anything else a slap echoed through the practically deserted pavilion. Sehun stood there clutching his hand that was throbbing due to the sheer force of the slap while Junhyung nursed his newly bruised cheek.

 

“Why, you little bitch! I’ll fucking put you in your place-!” Dongwoon raised his hand, causing Sehun to wait for the impact that never came. When he opened his eyes, he saw Kai standing there with Dongwoon’s wrist in mid-strike. The taller struggled to get out of Kai’s grasp, but the other wouldn’t let go.

 

Kai turned to Sehun. “Are you okay Oh?” he asked, his voice laced with genuine concern. When Sehun nodded, he turned his attention back to the two kumiho before him. “I’m going to give you two seconds to explain why the fuck you two idiots were harassing this young man.”

 

“Wouldn’t you like to know, Jongin? What are you, his boyfriend?” Dongwoon spat when Kai finally released his grip on him.

 

“Maybe I am,” Kai growled at the other’s taunt.

 

“It’s not like you’re going to do anything. You’re just going to run home like a little bitch to your father and have him fight your battles.” At this point, it was taking all of Kai’s self-control not to transform into his fully released state so he could put the two in their place.

 

“Kai, what is he talking about? Sehun questioned, a look of confusion on his face.

  
Junhyung smirked. “You haven’t told him your little secret yet?” He knew they were testing Kai’s patience and were pretty close to blowing his fuse. “C’mon pretty boy, if you’re so bad why don’t you hit me? Do it. Show your little bitch what you’re made of,” he taunted the blonde.

 

Kai balled his hands into a fist. “Leave before I make you leave,” he gritted out as he unclenched his fist.

 

“Whatever, we were done with you losers anyway.” Junhyung dusted himself off before he and Dongwoon began to leave the pavilion. “Oh, and Jongin? Don’t think this will be the last time we see each other. We’ll be a lot closer than you think,” he finished ominously before the two left the pavilion.

 

Once he was sure they were gone, Kai turned his attention back to Sehun, who still looked somewhat frazzled by everything that had just happened. “Come on, I think it’s best if we leave before anything else happens."

 

Sehun nodded and grabbed their prizes with Kai helping him carry some of the weight.

 

* * *

 

The car ride back was pretty much silent with the exception of when Kai stopped to get Sehun’s bubble tea since he’d forgotten to get it at the amusement park. Kai kept glancing over at Sehun, whose brows were furrowed as if he were in deep thought. He hadn’t even touched his bubble tea, which indicated that something was wrong with the other.

 

“Why did they call you Jongin?” Sehun asked innocently, breaking Kai from his thoughts.

 

“Because that’s my real name,” Kai said before shifting his focus back to the road. “Can I tell you a secret?” he asked the other honestly.

 

“Sure,” the rainbow-haired boy replied after taking his first sip of his bubble tea.

 

“My name’s not really Kim Kai, it’s Wu Jongin,” Kai said, not missing out on Sehun nearly choking on his bubble tea. “I only use Kim Kai so that people won’t recognize me for my father.”

 

Sehun was beyond stunned “Y-you mean to tell me that you’re the son of billionaire CEO Wu-motherfucking-Yifan and his fashion designer husband Park Chanyeol?!” Sehun practically shouted in disbelief. "Oh my fucking god, my dance partner is a fucking billionaire! Unbelievable!” Sehun mumbled to himself before going back to take a sip of his bubble tea.

 

“You aren’t mad, are you?” Kai questioned, even though he knew what the answer to it would be.

 

“Mad? Not really to be honest. Surprised? Hell yeah, I am! It’s not every day you find out something like that,” Sehun replied. “I mean I always thought there were some physical similarities between the two of you, but this is a strange turn of events, to be honest.”

 

“You’re the only person aside from my cousins, Baekhyun, Minho, and Tao, who knows about my true identity as Wu Jongin,” he admitted as they pulled into Sehun’s apartment’s garage.

 

“I mean, this is pretty big, but I think I’ll get over it as long as you don’t lie to me again,” Sehun concluded as he grabbed his prizes and keys from the back seat of the car. “If there are two things I hate in the world, there, one, liars, and two, someone who steals from me. If you ever want to even be able to be considered my so-called _boyfriend_ , you better not ever lie to me again,” he said gravely as they made their way inside the apartment building.

  
Jongin gulped. “I promise, I won’t do it again.” He felt a wave of guilt wash over him because he had just broken Sehun’s cardinal rule again. They finally arrived at Sehun’s apartment where Sehun fumbled with his keys in an attempt to open the door. Once he did, he went inside and set his things down before coming back to the front door where Jongin was still waiting for him rather awkwardly.

 

“As much as I hate to admit it, today was pretty fun,” Sehun confessed begrudgingly, a blush forming on his face. “Minus those assholes showing up. By the way, it was pretty cool of you to give one of your prizes to that little kid in the park today. Not to mention the way you stood up for me today when you took on those guys. I think you deserve something along the lines of a special reward." He whispered the last part before leaning in and planting a soft kiss on Jongin’s cheek. “Goodnight Jongin, thanks for hanging out with me today.” He let a rare smile grace his face. “But I better see you at practice on Monday, no excuses!” And with that, he closed the door, leaving a pleasantly dazed Jongin standing there.

  


Once he got back to his car, Jongin touched his cheek again, trying to make sure that what had just happened wasn't another one of his dreams. He drove back to the mansion with the biggest smile on his face and was prepared to go to sleep a happy man with not a care in the world.

 

That all changed the minute he walked through the front door and saw not only his father and uncle waiting for him in the foyer with his brothers and cousins. He wasn’t shocked to see his brothers waiting for him, and he definitely wasn’t shocked when Jongdae tackled him in a bear hug. His father, on the other hand, had a completely serious look on his face.

 

“Jongin, we need to talk immediately.” He said in a firm voice and Jongin knew something was wrong right away.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, in an abandoned warehouse on the other side of the city, two men appeared out of a dark mist. The shorter of the two was still clutching his cheek as it throbbed in pain from the earlier hit he had received.

  


“So, I take it that your mission was a relative success?” a lone figure said before stepping out of the shadows into the moonlit center of the room.

 

“Why the hell are you here, Hyunseung?” the taller growled at the redhead.

 

“Temper, temper, Dongwoon, is that any way to talk to your hyung?” The question elicited another growl from him. “Besides, I was sent here by Master Joon himself. After all, given your history of failure he wanted to make sure his orders were followed just as he instructed,” Hyunseung said smugly. “Which brings me to my previous question; were you two idiots able to successfully track Wu Jongin?”

 

Junhyung scoffed. “Of course we were able to, but his little bitch spotted us and attacked me, which led to the fluffball prince confronting us.”

 

Hyunseung didn’t believe a word the other said. “If you were going to even attempt lying to me, you should have at least come up with something halfway convincing,” he remarked. “Unfortunately, as you were able to find the prince, I won’t be able to punish you two but don’t think that Master will be pleased to find out that you two were discovered.”

 

Before he could say anything else, his phone began to ring. He knew exactly who was calling.

 

“Good evening, Master Joon," Hyunseung greeted, making the other two gulp at the mention of their master’s name.

 

“Hyunseung, are you with Dongwoon and Junhyung?” Joon’s cool voice spoke over the phone.

 

“Yes, master.”

 

“There’s been a change of plans. Yifan has begun to plan his offensive so it looks like we’ll have to take the fight to him.”

 

The redhead was confused by his master’s choice of words. “I’m afraid I don’t follow what you’re saying, sir.”

 

“What I’m saying is, you three will be going undercover alongside Kikwang and Doojoon at the university those sniveling princes attend. When the time is right, you will make them pay and take away one of the things that Wu Yifan holds close to his heart, just like he did to me.” The other began to sound slightly enraged at the thought of his past.

 

“As you wish, master,” Hyunseung responded dutifully.

 

“I knew that I could count on you, Hyunseung. Now go tell Dongwoon and Junhyung. Oh, and Hyunseung?

 

“Yes, master?”

 

“Do not fail me on this mission. I’d hate to have to remind you what happens to those who fail me,” Joon said icily before hanging up.

 

“So, what did Master Joon say?” Junhyung asked when he saw the redhead turn his phone back off.

  
Hyunseung turned to his teammates who were giving him with questioning gazes. “Get yourselves ready boys, looks like we’re going to start attending university starting on Monday.”


	8. Sins Of My Youth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! So I'm slowly but surely finishing up re-editing and updating the chapters I've already written and have started writing new chapters again! Anyways I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think :)

"Hey asshats," Jongin said as he took a seat next to Minho at their group’s usual lunch table. Taemin, who was seated in Minho's lap while the other fed him grapes, just ignored the younger's attitude and continued his debate with Baekhyun and Tao about what was better: Gucci or Louis Vuitton. Meanwhile, Kyungsoo and Minho just shared a questioning look when they heard the annoyed tone the blonde had used.

  


“What’s got you so pissed off today? Let me guess. Has Sehun been on your ass again about coming to practice?” Minho joked, earning him a glare from the younger boy.

 

"Sorry hyung. Professor Kim said she was going to be giving us a shit ton of assignments so that we can sufficiently 'prepare' for our final.” Kai’s brow furrowed at the thought as he rubbed his temples in frustration “Not to mention, Dad kept texting me in the middle of the lecture, saying I should watch my back and let him know if I saw anything out of the ordinary. Literally, dude - all you could hear was my phone vibrating the whole time the prof was speaking,” he groaned. “Between this situation, class, and putting the finishing touch to our routine for the showcase this week, I’m so stressed out.”

 

“Maybe you should manage your time a little bit better,” Kyungsoo spoke up. “As for Uncle Kris telling you to watch your back, you know just as well as we all do the threat that we’re facing right now. We don’t even know who this Joon guy is, but from the looks of it he’s probably just as powerful, if not stronger than them so, yes, they are completely justified in worrying about us,” he insisted even though he knew his words were falling on deaf ears.

“As much as I hate to admit it Jongin, Soo kinda does have a point,” Baekhyun joked, hoping to lift the younger’s mood. “By the way, you never actually told us what went down with your dad and the whole 'Yixing having a secret pregnant mate' thing."

Kai thought back to the conversation he and his father had a few nights before. “Oh yeah, about that…”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Yifan looked at his youngest son. “I trust that you will be able to look after yourself appropriately.”

 

“Of course Dad, I’m not a kid anymore,” Jongin brushed off his concern. “Besides, this guy probably doesn’t even know I exist.”

Yifan rolled his eyes at his son’s naivety. “Don’t underestimate him, Jongin. Joon will stop at nothing to get what he wants. If anything were to happen to your mother, your brothers, especially you-” He stopped himself before he could go any further, reverting back to his calm and composed state before releasing a frustrated huff. “Nevermind, that was all I wanted to talk about. You can leave.” He turned his swivel chair back around to face the departing Jongin. “By the way, your mother told me about your little date with the Oh boy earlier today.”

Jongin stopped dead in his tracks, a blush dusting over his features before he hurried out the door.

 

Once in the hallway, Jongin was greeted by the sight of Yixing whispering something into Joonmyun’s ear while holding the pregnant male in a deep embrace. From the look of it, it seemed as if the two were finally able to enjoy a moment of tenderness before they had to face the inevitable consequences of their actions, more so for Yixing than Joonmyun. Jongin couldn’t help but hope that one day, hopefully soon, he and Sehun would share a bond like theirs. Taking Jongin’s exit as their signal to enter Yifan’s study, Yixing and Joonmyun made their way into the room, an aggressive gust of wind following closely behind them and leaving the door slightly ajar.

 

Not being one to miss out on the chance of a lifetime at seeing his ‘perfect’ older brother finally get scolded about something, Jongin decided to peek through the cracked door. The gust, that had blown by him moments earlier, materialized in a vortex of fire and wind to reveal his mother with an extremely pissed off expression gracing his normally cheerful face.

 

From his viewpoint, Jongin saw Yixing stand up to give their mother a hug, but was stopped when a resounding slap echoed through the room.

 

“That really stung, mom,” Yixing chuckled.

 

Joonmyun immediately went over to make sure Yixing wasn’t injured, but the elder just shrugged as if nothing had happened. “I guess I kinda did deserve that one,” Yixing said cheerfully, hand going up to nurse his newly bruised cheek. Jongin knew that his brother had that stupid grin plastered on his face even when he wasn't turned to him.

 

“Damn right you deserved it! What the fuck were you thinking, Yixing?!” At this point both Chanyeol and Kris were visibly fuming at their oldest son’s nonchalant attitude. It was rare for either one of them to lose their temper, but when they did, one would hope to get out of their way. Jongin had only incurred this wrath twice, the first time when he was a cub and had almost caused Taemin to drown when they escaped the palace walls and decided to explore by the river. The second time came a few years ago when he decided to throw Kyungsoo and Baekhyun a high school graduation party while all of their parents were away on a vacation. Needless to say, the next morning he woke up to a mansion full of a bunch of passed out teens, a pony in a bathtub and three pairs of very pissed off parents. Jongin could still remember his father almost incinerating him right there and then. Just thinking about it brought a chill down Jongin’s spine, which made it all the more unbelievable that Yixing was even able to joke at a time like this.

 

This time it was Yifan who spoke up. “Your mother is right, what the hell were you thinking, son? Of all the irresponsible things that you could’ve done! Who the hell leaves their pregnant mate halfway across the world without even telling their family about them?” he fumed. “Do you understand what could’ve happened to him if any of Joon’s men figured out his connection to us? How could you be so selfish? I could see Jongdae doing something like this but you, Yixing, have disappointed us greatly.” The discontent was clear in Yifan’s voice after having calmed down from his initial explosion.

 

“With all due respect, sir, Yixing and I came to an agreement long before he left for his expedition or before I even told him I was pregnant with this little fellow,” Joonmyun spoke up timidly as he fondly rubbed his slightly protruding belly. “I know that he’d never let anything or anyone hurt me or our little one.”

 

Yixing wrapped an arm around him. “It’s true, father. Joonmyun and I had already discussed what we would do in the event of an emergency and when I was away. Believe it or not, Joonmyun actually has latent rare elemental powers, even though he’s only a legacy,” he said, hoping to quell his parents' anger even more.

 

“Regardless of whether or not your intentions were well meaning, my son, you could’ve very well endangered your mate’s life,” Yifan stated firmly. “You know very well what the penalty for doing something like this is.”

 

“Father, please-!”

 

“Silence, Yixing!" Yifan's voice boomed in a tone that could make even the mightiest of dragons tremble.

 

“Kris-” Chanyeol attempted to speak up, but Yifan ignored him.

 

“I mean honestly, how immature can you be? Am I that bad of a father that you couldn’t even tell me that you’d found your destined mate?” Yifan rambled on. “Honestly, I have way too many problems on my plate and now my son doesn’t even trust me-”

 

Chanyeol rolled his eyes at his husband’s dramatics. “Yifan, stop being such a drama queen. You’re a wonderful father, so shut it and stop moping. We have way bigger problems on our hands.” Yifan turned in surprise to Chanyeol at his mate’s rather blunt words. “Besides, is this any way to welcome our new son-in-law into the family?”  Chanyeol turned back to Joonmyun with a small smile on his face. “Trust me, we’re not usually like this.”

 

Before Joonmyun could respond, a vibrating noise was heard from the hallway.

 

“Did you hear that?” Jongin heard his father say while he desperately tried to turn his phone on silent. He cursed Sehun’s horrible timing as his phone continued to vibrate and he heard footsteps approach the door and he willed himself to teleport back to his room as fast possible.

 

* * *

 

“And that’s pretty much what happened,” Jongin finished, getting questioning looks from the others.

 

“I can’t believe Aunt Chanyeol actually hit Yixing, it just doesn’t seem like it’s in his nature,” Kyungsoo commented. “ I guess it makes sense because of what he did but honestly, I expected Uncle Kris be the one to do something like that.”

 

“Are you kidding me? Mom is ten times scarier than dad will ever be, especially when you piss him off like Yixing did,” Jongin scoffed at his cousin before taking a bite of his food.

 

“So wait, you mean to tell me you didn’t even hear the end of the conversation because you got a text from Sehun?” Baekhyun asked incredulously to which Jongin just nodded. “Amazing. Who knew Sehuna would have you so whipped after only one date?” he remarked cheekily, earning laughter from everyone at the table, minus a very flustered Jongin.

 

“Jesus Christ Baek, it wasn’t even a date!” Jongin huffed in a pretty half-assed attempt to hide his embarrassment which only succeeded in making the others laugh even more.

 

“What wasn’t even a date?” a familiar voice broke Jongin from his brooding. He turned to see Sehun taking a seat right next to him.

 

“Awkward…” Tao coughed out, hoping to break the awkwardness between the two.

 

“We were just talking about you two going on your little rendezvous at Seoul Land this past Saturday,” Baekhyun snickered, earning another glare from Jongin.

 

“Oh, Jongin actually told you guys about that?” Sehun said nonchalantly. “To be honest, it was pretty fun to unwind and actually have fun for once.”

 

“You’re calling him Jongin now? He actually told you his real name?” Kyungsoo asked, shocked.

 

“Yup, he pretty much told me the truth about your family and how he was the son of two of the most famous people in East Asia,” Sehun replied casually before stealing a bite of Jongin’s food.

 

“Oh really? So he pretty much told you everything? Like everything?”

 

The younger nodded but Kyungsoo wasn’t fully convinced. “Jongin, can I have a quick word with you?"

 

Jongin gave him a quizzical look but nodded. "Uh, yeah sure hyung." He followed Kyungsoo over to one of the trees that was out of earshot but still within viewing range.

 

"What did you wanna talk to me about-OW! Hyung, what the fuck was that for?!" Jongin whined as he rubbed the spot on his arm where Kyungsoo had hit him.

 

"Have you lost what little bit of your mind you had left, you fucking idiot?" The owl-eyed boy gritted out as he hit the other boy again. "What the fuck were you thinking?

 

"I don't even know what the hell you're talking about? Can you at least stop hitting me?" Jongin whimpered.

 

"You know damn well why I'm hitting you, Wu Jongin!" When do you plan on actually telling Sehun the entire truth, huh?" Kyungsoo growled out. "Have you forgot that he's been forced to believe that he was a normal human all his life?"

 

"Don't worry hyung, I got this completely under control - Ow! Stop fucking hitting me, you short asshole!" Kai exclaimed as Kyungsoo punched his arm again.

 

 

* * *

 

 

"Taemin-hyung is there any reason as to why your brother is punching Jongin repeatedly?" Sehun asked while all of them watched the scene unfold before them. Thankfully the courtyard was empty so their group was the only ones there to witness the embarrassing moment.

  


"Yeah, Soo-hyung is pretty famous for this and, more often than not, that idiot is the cause behind it," he replied casually.

 

“Wow. Your family is weird.”  
  


“Eh, you get used to it after awhile.” Taemin shrugged his shoulders and went back to watching the show before them. The group continued doing so until the sound of someone clearing their throat caught their attention.

 

“Great, not those assholes again,” Sehun sighed under his breath as he saw a duo approach their table, mini-entourage in tow.

  


“You know these guys?” Tao asked Sehun quietly.

 

“Yes, unfortunately. Those two fuckboys are the ones who harassed us on Saturday.”

 

“Aw baby, why do you have to be so cruel to me?” Junhyung smirked. “And to think I was going to introduce you to my friends. Nice to see your guard dog is busy with something else.”

 

Sehun rolled his eyes at the other’s arrogance. “Okay first off, I’m not your fucking babe, secondly, you and your idiot friends can casually suck my dick and don’t fucking worry about where he’s at,” the rainbowed-haired boy snapped.

 

“He’s a feisty one, eh, Junhyung? I can definitely see why you want to get in his pants,” the tall darker haired male with slight bags under his eyes commented.

 

“Isn’t he, Doojoon? I can’t wait to see his face when he’s screaming out my name,” Junhyung replied cockily. “He never mentioned how hot his friends were, though,” he said, turning his attention to Tao.

 

“You’re right, they are pretty cute,” the redhead purred. “Hey, big boy, why don’t you ditch the twig and let a real man show you how it’s done?” he whispered into Minho’s ear, earning a glare from a very offended Taemin.

 

“Hands off, he's mine.” Taemin growled, glaring at the redhead.

 

The one with light chestnut hair laughed. “Looks like you struck a nerve with our new friends, Hyunseung.”  
  


Hyunseung rolled his eyes. “Shut up, Kikwang. He’s cute, I’m just calling it like I see it.” He then went back to tormenting Minho, who had managed to keep his composure and kept swatting Hyunseung’s hand away from his shoulder while Taemin was barely holding himself back from punching Hyunseung then and there.

By this point, Sehun was fed up with the intruders impeding on their otherwise peaceful lunch. “Care to explain why the hell you guys are even here? I’m pretty sure that you guys don’t even go to this university so why risk getting arrested for trespassing?”

 

“That’s where you’re wrong, babe,” Junhyung smirked and placed his arm on Sehun’s shoulder, Sehun quickly shrugging it off.  “You see, you’ll be seeing a lot more of me and my friends around here and I can’t wait to get to know you better, Sehuna.”  
  


“Don’t. Fucking. Call. Me. Sehuna,” Sehun snapped at the other. “And keep your filthy hands to yourself, you piece of trash.”

 

 

* * *

  


 

Meanwhile, Kyungsoo had Jongin’s arm twisted behind his back as the blonde haired boy begged him for mercy. Neither noticed or really cared about the commotion that was being caused at their table.

 

“How fucking selfish can you be?! When are you going to realize that the world doesn’t revolve around you and that other people are affected by your actions too?!” Kyungsoo ranted after he loosened his hold on the other.

 

“H-hyung...I know...you’re worried and all..” Jongin panted as he tried to regain his breath once Kyungsoo finally released him. “But trust me...I got this…Sehun and I will be fine.”

 

Kyungsoo shook his head in disappointment. “You say that now, Jongin, but what are you going to do when he finds out? He’s had a hard enough life as it is, he’ll be devastated if he finds out that one of the few people he actually trusted was lying to him the whole time.” He sighed. “You know I’m always going to worry about you, you’re like the baby brother I never wanted and Sehun...well he's one of my best friends. The last thing I want is to see is either of you getting hurt.” Kyungsoo ruffled Jongin’s hair affectionately, making the other grin.

 

“Don’t worry, hyung, I promise this time will be different,” Jongin said with honesty. “I’m a big kid, I can handle myself, dude.”

 

“Fine, but if you mess this up, don’t come crying to me,” Kyungsoo warned. “Now c‘mon, the guys probably think I killed you by now.”

 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jongin groaned when they got back to the table and saw Junhyung and Dongwoon bothering the others.

 

“Great to see you too, Jongin. It’s nice to know your attack dog didn’t damage you too much. We were just having a chat with Sehuna here and introducing our other friends since we’re going to be seeing a lot more of each other now.” Junhyung replied cockily.

 

“You assholes couldn’t resist leaving us alone?” Jongin gritted out.

 

Doojoon smirked before walking up to him. “No we couldn’t. Your father started this and now we’re going to finish it.” He leaned in right next to Jongin’s ear, “By the way, your little bitch is pretty hot, it’d be a shame if someone accidentally broke him.” Doojoon’s smirk grew more smug when he saw the slightly unnerved look on his face. “You better watch your back, pretty boy, Master Joon plans on making you and your family.” He then turned back to his men. “Come on, guys, looks like our next class is going to be beginning soon.”

 

“Aw, just when I was starting to get to know this cutie over here,” Kikwang said with feigned disappointment as he left a flustered Baekhyun’s side, much to Kyungsoo’s delight. “Hopefully we’ll get to see each other in a more private setting next time, but until then…” He blew a kiss in Baekhyun’s direction, making the other boy blush even more while Kyungsoo was practically growling from jealousy.

 

“Kikwang, you can flirt with him later. Let’s go now,” Doojoon called impatiently as they walked out of the courtyard.

 

“Took those assholes long enough to leave,” Sehun huffed once they were out of sight. “They were seriously pissing me off and it doesn’t look like they’ll be leaving us alone anytime soon.”

 

Tao agreed with a hum. “Hey Hun, do you know where Taemin dragged my brother off to?” he asked, trying to change the subject before Sehun pressed the issue any further.

 

“I saw him drag Minho to the bathrooms to reassert his 'claim' and 'make sure that redheaded bitch knew to keep his hands off his man' or something like that,” Sehun recalled the jealously that was practically written all over Taemin's face. “Either way, I don’t think you wanna know what they’re doing.”

 

Tao shuddered at the thought. “Well, that’s slightly disturbing.”

 

Sehun nodded in agreeance “Yes. Yes, it is.”

 

“Um, guys I think we should probably go back inside for class. Wouldn’t want to keep Professor Song waiting, ya know?” Jongin commented nervously as he saw the tension between Kyungsoo and Baekhyun. Both Tao and Sehun nodded in agreement once they noticed the situation and followed Jongin out of the courtyard, leaving behind a silently fuming Kyungsoo and a still speechless Baekhyun.

 

 

* * *

 

“So I guess we aren’t going to talk about that?” Kyungsoo finally muttered, deciding to not look Baekhyun in the eyes. The other finally snapped out of his haze and gave Kyungsoo a confused look when he heard his tone.

  


“What’s there to talk about?” Baekhyun questioned even though he knew where this conversation was going. It wasn’t uncommon for the two close friends to go to blows with each other when it came to Baekhyun’s love life.

 

“How you were pretty much fawning over that Kikwang-guy or maybe the fact that he was ready to jump you at any moment?”

 

“Are you serious, Soo? You’re really going to do this right now?” Baekhyun’s brows furrowed in frustration at the other’s childishness. “How come everytime I’m remotely interested or even start dating a guy, you get like this? First, it was Hongki, next it was Geun Seuk, then it was Soo Hyuk, and then Taekwoon! When is it going to stop, Kyungsoo?”

 

“None of those guys were right for you, Baek!” Kyungsoo shouted at him.

 

“But it isn’t your place to decide! Just because your family has control over the fortunes of mankind, doesn’t mean you have a say in what happens with mine!” Baekhyun shouted back, hands clenched by his side. They had had arguments before but never any along the lines of this magnitude.

 

“Fine, whatever, this was a mistake. I should’ve known you wouldn’t listen,” Kyungsoo snarled, getting up to leave the table.

 

“Sure, leave like you always do and pretend that none of this happened just like you did with what happened at the club,” Baekhyun snapped at the other, making Kyungsoo stop in his tracks. “That’s right, Soo, I remember everything that happened that night, I wasn’t as drunk as you thought I was and I know neither were you.”

 

“W-what do you mean?” Kyungsoo asked in disbelief.

 

"You know damn well what I mean, Kyungsoo," Baekhyun said, a smirk forming as he saw the older falter a little at his words. "That's right, I remember how we ground on each other on the dancefloor, made out in the bathroom, me unbuttoning your pants..." He paused when he heard the other's breath hitch. "But I especially remember how hard your dick was for me," Baekhyun whispered directly into Kyungsoo’s ear in a voice that sent a shiver down the other’s spine before moving back.

 

"Don't fucking test me, Byun Baekhyun," Kyungsoo panted as he thought back to that night, his self-control slowly fading away.

 

“Or what? It’s not like you planned on claiming me anytime soon,” Baekhyun taunted even though he knew he was playing with him at that point. Kyungsoo just stared at him in shock. “That’s right, I’ve known for years that we were destined for each other but you’ve been too much of a coward to even confess your feelings.”

 

“What did you just call me?” Kyungsoo growled, staring Baekhyun directly in the eyes.

 

“I said you’re a coward, a coward who’s too afraid to admit his feelings, too afraid to take responsibility,” Baekhyun sneered without giving it a second thought.

 

“I’ll show you who’s the coward,” Kyungsoo snarled before he suddenly closed the gap between them in a kiss, giving Baekhyun no chance to reply. The kiss was rather sloppy as Baekhyun’s hand tangled itself in Kyungsoo’s hair while their tongues fought for dominance. All the emotions that they had both been suppressing for so long finally came to the surface, neither caring about their surroundings. When they finally broke apart for air, they were both trying to grasp what had just happened.

  
“Your place or mine?” Baekhyun asked, a cheeky grin gracing his face because he knew what was to come.


	9. Just Right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God it's so awkward editing smut chapters....Anyways I hope you enjoy and remember comments are greatly appreciated 

After what seemed like forever, the anxious duo had finally pulled up in front of Baekhyun’s large house. During the ride, Kyungsoo was barely able to keep his focus on the road given the fact that Baekhyun was hell-bent on testing his composure, leaving open mouth kisses on his neck while palming him through his jeans at every stop light. When Kyungsoo shot a glare in Baekhyun’s direction, the younger just smiled innocently even though his intentions were anything but. Baekhyun was barely able to unlock the door before Kyungsoo was kissing him again, effectively turning the tables on the other.

  
“God, I can't wait...I’m going to fuck you so hard...you won't be able to walk for days,” Kyungsoo panted in between kisses as they stumbled up the stairs towards Baekhyun’s room, leaving a trail of clothing behind them.

 

Once they made it to his bedroom, Baekhyun attempted to close the door as best he could with a horny Kyungsoo trying to remove the last bit of his clothes. When both of them were finally naked, Baekhyun separated from Kyungsoo to go retrieve something from his dresser drawer, earning a very manly whine of disapproval from the older. When he returned, holding up a condom and lube, Kyungsoo gave him a confused look.

 

 

“As much as I enjoy cubs and all, I know that neither one of us wants to have any running around anytime soon, Soo,” he said, earning a whine from the other boy. Baekhyun just dismissed it and kissed him again. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want your knot, alpha,” he purred into Kyungsoo’s ear, smirking when he heard the other growl as his more feral side began to take over as he pushed Baekhyun onto the bed.

“On all fours, ass up,” Kyungsoo ordered with force. By now his cock was an angry red and standing at full attention, ready to knot anything or anyone.

Baekhyun immediately followed his directions and sat on the bed with his ass and growing erection clearly presented to the other. He heard the other move over towards the bed and shivered with anticipation when he felt a finger run down the length of his spine.

“P-please don’t tease, Soo,” Baekhyun moaned when he felt Kyungsoo begin to suck on his neck, his hands caressing the half breed’s willing body before deciding to focus their attention on Baekhyun’s firm backside.

“I shouldn’t tease? Now, now, Baek, I hope you haven’t forgotten all the teasing you did on the way over here,” Kyungsoo remarked huskily before grabbing a handful Baekhyun’s ass and taking in the sight of his twitching entrance. Baekhyun whimpered again when he felt a breath ghost over his entrance briefly. He reached down to stroke himself but was stopped when he felt a hand grip his wrist.

“Didn’t you know naughty boys don’t get rewarded?" Baekhyun let out a whine of frustration. "Look at you, I haven’t even done anything and you’re already twitching and hungry for me,” Kyungsoo smirked when he heard the younger's whines. “You’re going to prepare yourself and if I catch you even attempting to jerk off, I can promise you’ll regret it. Now get to it.”

 

Baekhyun yelped when he felt a hand come down on slap his ass rather harshly. He didn’t know where this assertive side of Kyungsoo had been but he was hoping that he’d get the chance to see more of it in the future.

 

Baekhyun coated his fingers in lube before inserting the first in his hole, moaning at the sudden intrusion. Once he got used to the feeling he added another, beginning to scissor himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Kyungsoo jerking himself off at the sight before him. Deciding to put on a show for the older, he added a third finger, making sure that when he brushed over that bundle of nerves he let out a drawn-out moan, hoping that Kyungsoo would deem him worthy enough to finally fuck him.

Seeing the erotic display before him as he put the condom on, a carnal urge was set off in Kyungsoo, every fiber of his being crying out for him to finally claim his mate. A feral growl left his mouth as he took his place behind Baekhyun, who at this point was moaning loudly as he continuously brushed against his prostate. With one swift thrust, Kyungsoo's cock was surrounded by Baekhyun's tight walls with Baekhyun whimpering at the feeling of being filled.

“Fuck, Baek, you’re so tight even after you worked yourself open,” Kyungsoo barked out as he began thrusting, roughly gripping the younger’s hips.

“S-soo...ah...please...!” Baekhyun whined as the other begins to thrust more harshly. “Please claim me.”

“I’m gonna knot you so fucking good that another man will never think about coming near what’s mine again,” Kyungsoo whispered sharply against Baekhyun’s neck as he licked it, earning a moan of approval from the younger.

“Yes, alpha, make me yours-” Baekhyun gasped out when he felt a pair of sharp canines sink into his neck Kyungsoo finally hit his prostate.

“Who the fuck do you belong to?” Kyungsoo growled into the other’s ear while pounding into the younger. He grabbed a fist full of Baekhyun's hair and pulled him even closer when the younger didn't answer him "I said who do you fucking belong to?!" Kyungsoo practically snarled as the sounds of skin slapping against skin echoed throughout the room.

“Ah..you! Only you! _Fuck, fuck, fuck_! Kyungsoo, baby please, I’m so close!” Baekhyun panted, feeling the beginnings of Kyungsoo’s knot start to catch on his rim.

“That’s right Baek, none of those other bitches could ever make you feel like this. You’re mine and only mine. I'm the only man who gets to see you like this.”

Kyungsoo began to thrust more erratically as he felt his impending release nearing. He reached around to finally stroke Baekhyun’s straining erection, the younger mewling in approval. Kyungsoo came inside the condom, knot swelling inside the other while he continued to stroke the other’s erection.

 

 

“Soo...ngh...I’m coming!” Baekhyun yelped as he felt himself release all over Kyungsoo’s hand. Kyungsoo maneuvered them into a more comfortable position with him spooning Baekhyun from behind before he pulled the covers over them, his knot still enlarged inside of him. Both knew that there was no way they could go back to their previous relationship given the fact that once a kumiho claimed their destined mate and placed the mating mark on them, both of their destinies would be intertwined with the other. All of this weighed heavily on Kyungsoo’s mind as they lay together on the bed after his knot finally shrunk and he slowly pulled out of the other.

 

_“What if he wakes up and regrets it? What if I’m not good enough for him? I just want him to be happy-”_

 

“I don’t regret it, Soo,” Baekhyun’s soft voice broke him from his thoughts. He had thought the other boy had fallen asleep due to how rigorous their activities were, but in reality, Baekhyun had been awake the entire time.

 

Kyungsoo was somewhat dumbstruck at the other’s words. “H-how did you know that’s what I was thinking?” He asked timidly, feeling ashamed for doubting the other's feelings for him.

 

Baekhyun let out a soft chuckle at the other’s newfound shyness. “I’m your best friend, silly. Not to mention we’ve known each other for so long I know pretty much everything about you, especially when you’re starting to doubt yourself.” Baekhyun turned over so they were face to face with one another before placing a chaste kiss on Kyungsoo’s lips, “I’d been waiting for this to happen for so long and now that it has I wouldn’t even attempt to change a thing.” He snuggled into the crook of Kyungsoo’s neck, smiling when he felt the other wrap his arms around him.

 

“Are you sure? I’m sorry if I hurt you earlier, I didn’t mean to get carried away like that, I was so frustrated...” he began to ramble on until Baekhyun’s finger pressed to his lips silenced him.

 

“Shh, I loved it. I think I’d love to see more of this side of you, but for now, can we just sleep and sort the rest of this out when we wake up?” Baekhyun mumbled sleepily as he started to drift off, exhaustion finally setting in. Kyungsoo just smiled at his cuteness before he closed his eyes, sleep overtaking him.

 

* * *

 

Hakyeon thought of himself as a rather simple man who led a simple life. He had everything he could ask for, including a loving husband and two beautiful sons. Speaking of his sons, he’d been somewhat shocked to see Baekhyun’s car in the driveway earlier than normal and was even more shocked to see a trail of clothes leading upstairs towards his younger son’s bedroom. The biggest shock of all came when he caught sight of Baekhyun and Kyungsoo wrapped in a loving embrace as they slept peacefully.

If the musky scent of sex wasn’t a telltale sign of what had occurred there earlier, the discarded condom wrapper and lube bottle on the floor surely confirmed his suspicions. Trying to hold back a squeal of delight at the fact that Kyungsoo had finally grown a pair and got together with his son, Hakyeon closed the door quietly and rushed down the stairs to find his phone. He quickly dialed Kibum’s number and waited eagerly for the other to answer the phone.

 

“You better have a good reason for calling me in the middle of my meeting.” Key’s irritated voice greeted him.

 

“Kibum, hush, I have wonderful news!” Hakyeon replied cheerfully, not even phased by the other’s greeting.

 

“Fine, spill.” Key sighed, knowing that the younger man wouldn’t be deterred until he told him the news.

 

“Guess who officially owes me 500,000 ₩?”

 

“Shut up, there's no fucking way! Are you fucking serious?! Soo finally did it?! They’re officially mates?!” Key asked in disbelief.

 

“Yup!” Hakyeon replied. “I came home and found them all snuggled up together in bed. It was actually quite a cute sight minus the condom on the floor and clothes everywhere.”

 

“I can’t believe it! We’re finally in-laws now!”

 

Hakyeon nodded but then remembered he was on the phone and instead made a sound of agreement. “By the way, in-law, do you prefer to pay for this wager via check or cash?”

 

“Cha Hakyeon I owe you nothing! Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I can't kick your ass either!” Kibum shouted through the phone while Hakyeon began to laugh at the other’s anger.

“So cash it is then? Oh yeah, and do tell Chanyeol, I’m expecting my 200,000 ₩ from him too. Okay bye Kibummie, talk to you later!” Hakyeon ended the call, completely oblivious to the other man’s threats with a smile still gracing his face.

_"I can't wait to tell Wonshik!"_


	10. Bang Bang Boomerang

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and as always comments are appreciated!

On the other side of town, Sehun and Jongin were trying to unwind after a rather eventful day. They were currently enjoying their second cups of bubble tea at Sehun’s favorite bubble tea shop a few blocks away from his apartment. Somehow, Sehun had managed to drag him there after Tao had split off from them to go study. Not that Jongin was complaining given the fact that it allowed him to spend more time with Sehun.

"Yo, earth to Kai!"

The boy mentioned was pulled out of his thoughts when he saw the way Sehun was looking at him.

Jongin grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I must have spaced out."

"I was close to telling you to just take a picture, it'll last longer. I know it's so hard to resist looking at my gorgeous face," Sehun responded snarkily before taking another sip of his bubble tea.

"Conceited much, Sehuna?" Jongin rolled his eyes at the younger's overconfidence. "What makes you think I was even remotely thinking about you?"

"Well, if the fact that you've been looking at me like you wanted to eat me ever since that asshole touched me earlier is anything to go off of, then yeah, I can definitely assume it was me you've been thinking about." Sehun's stupid smirk quickly turned into a frown when Jongin snatched his cup right out of his hand.

"You're such a narcissist, Sehuna, just because you're cute-" Jongin caught himself before he could say anything further, a blush spreading across his face.

"Did you just call me cute?" Sehun's smirk returned when he heard Jongin's words.

"N-no! I mean that you're not ugly or anything b-but you definitely aren't cute-! I mean you are-! Gah, why is it so hard to talk to you?!” Jongin sighed in defeat, biting his lower lip.

Sehun giggled at Jongin’s cuteness before pecking his cheek. “You know you’re actually pretty adorable when you get nervous.”

“I’m not adorable, I’m hot! Like legit, I’m the hottest guy on the planet!” Jongin declared jokingly, still smiling at the other’s words of comfort.

“And it looks like the old Kim Kai is back,” Sehun remarked before he got up to throw away their cups, dragging Jongin with him. “Come on Mr. Hot Guy, let’s go. You still have to drop me off at my place,” he said, ignoring the questioning looks he got from the other café patrons.

* * *

When the two of them arrived back at Sehun's apartment they were rather shocked to see a shirtless Yixing and Joonmyun cuddled together and making out lazily on the sofa. Both were too caught up to even notice the duo's presence. At least until Sehun purposely dropped his backpack on the ground, causing the two to practically fly apart.

"Hi, Sehun! It’s great to see my favorite brother-in-law again!" Yixing grinned as if he hadn't just been caught red-handed. "Wow, you dyed your hair again? I like it! Oh, hey Jongin!" He waved at Jongin who was hiding behind a visibly fuming Sehun.

"Hyung, what the fuck is that deadbeat asshole doing here and why is he calling me his brother-in-law?" Sehun gritted out, glaring at Yixing who still had his signature grin plastered on his face.

"Oh... uh...hehe, surprise?" Joonmyun grinned sheepishly. "He got to come home earlier than expected.... _andwemayhavegottenlegallymarriedearliertoday_." He said the last part in a jumbled rush, hoping the younger didn’t completely catch on.

Sehun shook his head, not fully believing what he had just heard. “I’m sorry what did you say? I thought I heard something about you getting married to that dick but it’s probably a brain freeze from all the bubble tea.”

“Nope, you heard me correctly. Yixing and I are married now.” Joonmyun replied with a little bit more confidence.

“Surprise indeed,” Sehun deadpanned before turning to Jongin. “And pray tell, how do you know that douche?”

Jongin began to fidget somewhat nervously under Sehun’s intense gaze. “Um...uh…h-he’s my-”

“I’m his favorite big brother!” Yixing interrupted cheerfully, much to Jongin and Joonmyun’s dismay. “I mean, can’t you see the family resemblance?” he said, ruffling Jongin’s hair.

“Wow Jongin, we aren’t even a week into whatever the hell this is and the lies are slowly piling up, eh?” Sehun huffed, getting angrier by the minute. He pushed passed Yixing and Joonmyun and stomped off to his bedroom mumbling something about “stupid cute rich boys”. “If you need me, I’ll be in my room pondering about the lack of trustworthy people in the world!” He shot a glare in Jongin’s direction before slamming his door shut dramatically.

“We aren’t even dating,” Jongin mumbled when he heard the door slam.

Joonmyun rolled his eyes at his brother’s antics and turned to Jongin. “You’ll have to forgive my brother, he’s not usually this dickish. I’m sure you know that around this time of night is when his meds wear off and the mood swings set in. To be honest I don't even that this time it has anything to do with that and he’s probably just being melodramatic right now.” He crossed his arms at the thought of his baby brother's shenanigans. “He’ll probably be fine if you just go in there and talk to him.” Joonmyun motioned towards Sehun’s bedroom. “Well, what are you waiting for? Go on. Believe me, he’s more bark than bite.”

Jongin hesitantly followed Joonmyun’s lead and pushed open the door, making his way inside and closing the door behind him.

“Hasn’t the doctor told you that stress is bad for the baby?” Yixing asked, breaking Joonmyun from his thoughts when he felt the other back hug him and rest his head on Joonmyun’s shoulder.

“What’s there to stress about? We both know that Sehun’s just having another hissy fit, he’ll be fine the minute Jongin speaks to him.” Joonmyun scoffed before settling into the other’s embrace.

Yixing giggled. “I love this new feistier side to you, it’s so sexy, Joonma,” he said while mouthing kisses along Joonmyun’s neck. “I really hope that our little boy grows up to be just like you.”

"God, you're such a cheese ball," Joonmyun chuckled, turning around to face Yixing with a look mischief. "Anyways, we should finish getting re-acquainted, but this time, we're going to my room."

Yixing smirked. "I like your thinking, babe." He let the younger lead him to his bedroom, making sure to lock the door in order to prevent any further interruptions.

* * *

 

"So in addition to being a liar, you're deaf too?" Sehun sneered from his position on the bed. Jongin frowned at the underlying malice in the other's voice.

"Okay, first off, I didn't even lie to you, I had already told you I had two older brothers. Believe me, I literally just found out that our brothers were dating," Jongin replied, getting frustrated with the younger's attitude. "Secondly, why are you so pissed off about this? Like yeah, I get it, you think my brother's a dick. Trust me, so do I, but that's no reason to get mad at me. We aren't even dating!"

"Maybe that's a good thing!" Sehun huffed as he got up from the bed, standing directly in front of him.

“Okay what the actual fuck is your problem?!” Kai shouted back at him. “One minute you like me, the next minute you want me to leave you alone!”

“Because you’re just going to get close to me so you can use me and then leave!” Sehun pointed an accusing finger at him. “You’re bad, just like everybody else! You pretend to like me, but I know you don’t!” His voice began to waver as he felt painful memories resurface. “I’m just a nobody, I know all that stuff you said was a lie. My own parents didn't even want me for God's sake. Joonmyun had to sacrifice so much growing up because of me and I'm the constant reminder that we'll never have a normal life. Maybe I do deserve to be alone. ”

His voice was barely above a whisper at this point and Jongin could feel his heart breaking at the sight of the boy’s tears. He had witnessed first hand the years of pain and abuse that Sehun had dealt with from his fellow students. Deciding to take a bold move, he pulled Sehun into his embrace and allowed the other boy to cry on his shoulder.

“Hey, hey, hey, that’s no way to talk about yourself.” Jongin tilted Sehun’s chin up so they were looking each other directly in the eye, giving the younger a reassuring grin. “I meant every word I said earlier, I do like you and you are worth it.”

“Don’t you get it? I’m trying to make you leave before I get too attached and you can hurt me. I want to be mad at you, I want to hate you so I can have a reason to stay away from you.” Sehun sniffled as he wiped his eyes. “Then you go and pull this good guy crap and flash that stupid smile of yours and I can’t be angry at you. I-I...I just don’t want to be hurt again.”

“I promise I won’t hurt you. I’m not like those other people who came in and out of your lives. The only way I’ll ever leave you is if you don’t want me here anymore,” Jongin replied firmly, still gazing into the other’s eyes. “I like you... maybe a little more than I should at this stage in our whatever this is. I know that my record does kinda precede me but I guess that was my way of hiding my true feelings for you," he said as their faces began to inch closer together.

“You mean it?” Sehun whispered, their lips mere centimeters apart.

“I promise,” Jongin responded breathily before he pressed their lips together in a firm lip-lock. It was awkward at first but eventually, both boys settled into it with no problem.

 _“Ugh, Yixing fuck me harder!”_ Joonmyun’s voice rang out through the wall, causing the two to break apart and chuckle.

Sehun rolled his eyes. “God, I wish the walls were thicker. This used to happen all the time when he would stay over.”

 _“Oh yeah, baby, you feel so fucking good around me! How does it feel getting dicked down by the boss?”_ This time it was Yixing’s voice that managed to seep through. Jongin cringed at the sound of his brother’s voice and the visualization it caused.

“Okay, that’s extremely gross and I think I may need years of therapy to erase that image,” Jongin groaned but smiled when Sehun kissed his cheek.

“Wanna play a game of Smash Bros on the Wii U so we can drown them out?” Sehun asked as he led the other boy back out to the living room.

“Sure, why not?” Jongin shrugged as he took his seat next to Sehun on the couch. He wrapped an arm around the younger, smiling when he felt the other settle into his embrace.

“Jongin, are we dating now?” Sehun inquired timidly as he turned the game on and gave him the other controller.

Jongin smiled before kissing the top of his head. "If that's what you're comfortable labeling this as."

“I think I’d like that... a lot,” Sehun said while he pulled Jongin in for another kiss. They ended up playing the game into the wee hours of the morning, long after the moans and groans had died down in Joonmyun’s bedroom. The duo didn’t mind staying up late, content with enjoying each other's presence. For Jongin, this was the closest he could get to a dream come true and he wouldn’t trade this moment in for anything in the world even if he knew he would eventually have to come clean to the younger boy.


	11. Eyes Shut

"Ha! Take that Jongin! I won again!" Sehun fist-pumped triumphantly after the screen signaled the end of their round.

Jongin rolled his eyes. "Don't you think we should be getting one last round of practice in before our performance in the showcase tonight?"

They had been playing Smash Bros for the last hour since they had finished their classes for the day and come back to Sehun and Joonmyun's apartment. Sehun had won all their games so far (Jongin purposely lost them just to see his boyfriend smile).

"Nah, it's not like we have really needed it anyways. We've been working our asses off for the last month and a half so we're good." Sehun waved the other's concern off. "By the way, where's my kiss at?" he pouted, feigning hurt.

"Sorry, Sehuna, guess I must have forgotten," Jongin chuckled before leaning in and capturing Sehun's lips in a heated kiss, causing the younger's face to flush. The minute Jongin's tongue attempted to gain entrance he pulled away from the kiss, his face as red as a tomato.

"What the hell, Nini? I asked for a kiss on the cheek not for you to attempt to suck my soul out," Sehun whined even though he enjoyed every second of it.

" _Nini?_ " Jongin questioned before he pulled his cute eternally pouting boyfriend closer before starting another round of Smash.

"Yes, Nini. You get to call me Sehuna so I figured I might as well give you a dumb pet name too," Sehun said, trying to keep his focus on the game, pout still in place.

Jongin just smiled in return. He definitely wasn't going to complain. After all, it had been a pretty good week for Jongin. He had finally gotten together with his dream guy and was enjoying every second of it, much to his friends' dismay. Even Doojoon and his idiots had backed off of them while Kris had finally given Jongin the space he had wanted for the longest. His father had been so busy preparing for Joon’s next move that he had practically forgotten about pressuring him about anything related to becoming the next Lord Guardian. For the first time in weeks, he was actually able to have a normal conversation with his brothers and his dad. Overall, he was feeling the best he had in years but he knew his luck probably wouldn't last. That was why he was going to enjoy every second of it until shit decided to hit the fan again.

Jongin paused the game when he felt a strange sensation next to his leg. "Sehuna, as much as I enjoy the practical leg massage you're giving me right now, could you go a little bit easier on bouncing your leg? You might end up meeting J.J a lot faster than intended."

Sehun immediately stopped bouncing his leg. "Sorry, sometimes I get really anxious and lose track of what I'm doing and th-Wait a second, did you just call your dick J.J?" he snorted, the older's words sinking in.

"Yeah, I did. He's my other half and the thing that will carry on my legacy," Jongin replied matter-of-factly. "You should be thankful, I could have called it my DNA rifle."

Sehun burst out laughing at his comment, completely forgetting about the game. "Holy shit, Jongin, if you keep talking like that little J.J here won't be seeing any action from me," Sehun joked.

“Trust me, Sehuna, there’s nothing small about him. I could let you sneak a peek if you wanted to.” Jongin smirked when he saw the other’s flustered reaction. Before he could say anything else he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, his alarm alerting the fact that he needed to go home and get ready for their showcase. “Sorry, I’ve got to get home so I can get ready. I’d advise you to do the same.” He stood and stretched before he made his way to the door, Sehun trailing behind him to see him out.

Jongin kissed Sehun on the cheek. “I’ll see you in a few hours, okay? Try not to get caught up playing the game again.”

Sehun rolled his eyes at the other. “Yes, Mom, anything else? Don’t you have to catch the bus to get home? Joonmyun just texted me saying he was on his way,” he said, trying to change the subject quickly.

“Yeah, I probably should get going, but not before I do this.”

Before Sehun could ask him, Jongin planted another surprise kiss on his lips.

“A warning would really be nice whenever you’re going to do that, Kim,” Sehun mused when they pulled apart, punching the other's arm half-heartedly. Jongin chuckled and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek before Sehun slammed the door shut.

Even though Jongin knew that Joonmyun and Yixing would be on their way to take Sehun back to the campus, he was still hesitant to leave his boyfriend by himself, especially with dangerous gwisin still lurking somewhere in the shadows. Although they hadn’t had any incidents with them since Taemin and Minho were attacked, his aunts and uncles had been reporting an increase in attacks in their respective jurisdictions, in both realms. He hoped that for now, it remained that way until he was able to finally come clean to Sehun. With a final sigh, he teleported back to the mansion to get ready for the showcase.

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Come in!” Yifan called as he looked up from his business reports. A knock on the door had interrupted Yifan from his preoccupation with his work. He had assumed it was either Chanyeol or Jonghyun or even Heechul coming to check up on him but was pleasantly surprised when Jongin walked into his spacious study. Lately, he hadn’t seen much of his youngest son due to matters in the Spirit World and with his fellow Guardians.

 

“I wasn’t expecting to see you, Jongin. Isn’t your showcase tonight?” Yifan asked when the brunette approached his desk, his tails waving nervously. Even though he had a performance later, Yifan was somewhat surprised to see him dressed so casually. Jongin was wearing a black shirt and black jeans with a pair suspenders attached and black converse.

 

“T-that’s kinda why I’m here, Dad,” Jongin said, running his fingers through his hair. “I was going to ask if you wanted to be my second special guest for the showcase? Mom, Grandma, and Jongdae already have their tickets and I still have two seats reserved since Yixing is going with Joonmyun and Auntie and Uncle are going as Tae and Soo’s guests. I have two extra tickets left over and thought maybe you’d like to go…” Jongin trailed off though he knew what the answer would be.

 

"Sorry, son, but I don’t think I’ll be able to make it tonight." Yifan frowned when he saw the expression on Jongin’s face fall. “Trust me, I would love to go but you know how things are and your cousin will be coming to stay with us-”

 

“It’s fine, dad. I’m sorry I bothered you, I’ll be going now,” Jongin interjected before taking his leave from the study. Yifan sighed, feeling rather horrible for disappointing Jongin again. He resigned himself back to looking over his work until Chanyeol burst through the doors not even ten minutes later.

 

“Wu Yifan, why the hell did our son walk past me looking as though his world had ended?!” he fumed as he stomped over to his desk, leaving a trail of singed carpet in his wake.

 

“I may have told him I wouldn’t be able to make it to his showcase tonight-” Yifan managed to get out before being interrupted.

 

“Why the hell would you do that?! Do you know how excited he was to have you finally see him perform? Did we not discuss this?!” Chanyeol snarled, causing Yifan to flinch when the older slammed his fist on the desk. “Honestly, Yifan, what the hell?” Chanyeol seethed.

 

“I was planning on surprising him once I picked Junhong up, Yeol,” Yifan replied calmly as if nothing had happened. “We were going to get there before his performance began so that way, when he looks out in the audience, he'd be pleasantly surprised.”

 

Chanyeol stared at his mate in partial shock, partial relief.“Y-you’re serious? What about Joon?”

 

“Joon is of no concern to me right now, my family comes first. If he makes a move I will be ready,” Yifan said, his voice resolute and determined. “Besides, your father said he’d look after things while we were going to be gone.” He smiled when he saw his mate smile at his words and pulled the other in for a hug.

 

“I’m sorry I doubted you, Fanfan,” Chanyeol mumbled against his chest before they pulled apart. “I probably shouldn’t have flipped out like that without asking you for the full story.”  
  


“It’s fine, Yeol, but you and the others should probably get going soon. I’m pretty sure the showcase starts at 6:30.” Yifan flashed him the same charismatic smile Chanyeol fell in love with as they walked over to the door.

 

Chanyeol turned to him. “You better not be late,” he warned, attempting to sound stern but the other knew it was a rather hollow threat.

 

Yifan smiled at him again. “I promise I won’t, as a matter of fact, I was getting ready to open the portal to meet Junhong at the royal palace.”

 

“In that case, see you later on tonight, FanFan,” Chanyeol purred before closing the door behind him. Once he heard the door close, Yifan’s face fell again as he knew he was getting ready to take on another problem.

 

“I hope I’m making the right choice by taking you in, my dear nephew,” he thought aloud as he opened the portal and stepped through it, transporting himself to the Spirit World.

 

* * *

 

It was only a few minutes until the showcase started and everyone was practically running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Backstage, the stage crew was trying to put on the finishing touches while the performers went through their last round of stretches and vocal warm-ups. Outside in the auditorium, the audience was beginning to file in and getting seated. Overall everything was as it should be except for the fact that the dancing trio consisting of Jongin, Taemin, and Sehun was a duo at the moment. Sehun was nowhere to be seen and Jongin was getting worried. Luckily, the vocal units, like Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, were supposed to be the ones who performed first so they had some time to play with it but it still had Jongin a little nervous.

“Five minutes till showtime, everyone!” their flamboyant stage manager Jo Kwon called as he checked over everything backstage. Taemin left Minho’s side and bounded over to Jongin with a worried look on his face.

 

“Has Sehun shown up yet? I tried calling him but it went straight to voicemail,” he said, pulling his long hair back into a ponytail. “I tried texting him but he hasn’t responded back yet. I don’t know if we should be worried or if he’s just doing his usual.”

 

“Hyung just texted me a few minutes ago and said that Joonmyun was driving and that they should be here pretty soon,” Jongin said. “Apparently Sehun wasn’t ready by the time they got back so they had to wait for him to get changed and find his phone.”

 

“God, I wish he would take his time and actually slow down for once,” Taemin said, rolling his eyes before he shook his head in frustration at his best friend’s antics. He was pretty much used to Sehun being late but tonight definitely wasn’t the night for him to attempt to be fashionably late especially given the fact that Sehun and Jongin were going have a performance together later on that night.

 

“It’ll be fine, Tae, he’s your best friend. You should give him more credit than that.”

 

Taemin raised a cynical eyebrow at Jongin’s statement but before he could respond he heard a voice ring out on the sound system.

 

“I would like to welcome the families and friends of our students to Hongik University’s 14th Annual Spring Performing Arts Showcase!” Jo Kwon’s cheerful voice boomed over the microphone as he took to the stage and faced the audience. “You guys are in for a wonderful treat tonight as you get to see all the hard work the students have been putting in."

 

A round of applause followed his statement. Jo Kwon waited a moment for the applause to die down before he spoke again. "However, before we can get the showcase underway, the university would like to give thanks to the generous benefactors of the Wu-Park family, who happen to be in the audience tonight." Another round of applause was heard.

 

From his position behind the curtains, Jongin saw the spotlight move over to where he assumed his family was sitting. He frowned as he thought about his father's absence for the night. Jongin knew he probably shouldn't have been so disappointed. After all, his father was known for this and this was one of the disadvantages of being the son of the Lord Guardian.

 

Before he could sulk any further he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see a sharply dressed Kyungsoo flashing him a reassuring smile. Unlike his casually dressed cousin, his crimson hair was slicked back and he was dressed in a black tuxedo. He looked like the poster boy for elegance.

 

“I’m sure Uncle Kris would have wanted to be here tonight, Jongin. And just because he couldn’t make it doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have wanted you to put on the best show ever,” Kyungsoo encouraged the younger kumiho. “Besides, your mom and brothers are here, not to mention my parents and grandma and, best of all, you have us!” He motioned over to where their friends were standing by, smiles gracing their faces when they saw Jongin look in their direction.

 

“And if you look to your right you’ll see a group of gays in their natural habitat,” Sehun jokingly remarked, to everyone’s surprise. They all turned as best they could to see him standing only a few feet away with a somewhat smug smirk on his face. Jongin immediately broke away from the hug and walked over to his boyfriend.

 

“- And now I’d like to introduce our first soloist of the night, our very own junior music major: Do Kyungsoo! He’ll be performing a cover of Zion.T’s song, Eat!” Jo Kwon began to introduce Kyungsoo. “Without further ado please welcome Kyungsoo to the stage!”  
  


“Break a leg, Soo.” Baekhyun kissed Kyungsoo on the cheek before pushing him towards the stage where he was greeted by a raucous round of applause. Once the music started playing Jongin turned back to Sehun.

“What the hell, Sehun? Where have you been?” he hissed, brows furrowing in frustration and worry. “I thought something had happened to you."

 

Sehun arched his brow in confusion. "I don't get what the big deal is, we don't even perform until the latter half of the showcase and I was only late by five minutes."

 

“It's dangerous for you to be roaming around by yourself especially with the gwis-” Jongin had stopped himself before he accidentally gave away his secret. He sighed and turned away from the younger. “You know what, nevermind, just go warm up so we can make sure that the choreo is fine, Taemin and I will be waiting in the hallway.”

 

Sehun stared at him skeptically before going to warm up. ' _Wonder what's eating him?'_ he wondered as he walked away.

 

 

 

* * *

 

"And now for our next performance! You may recognize them from earlier tonight as members of the Younique Trio, but here are Sehun and Kai, showcasing their choreography for EXO's song "What is Love?". With no further introductions, please welcome them back to the stage!"

 

This was it. The moment of truth for them. It was only them, no Taemin to help him along and reassure him. Just him and Sehun. Jongin could practically hear his heart beating as they were introduced. Sensing his nervousness, Sehun squeezed Jongin's hand in reassurance before they walked out onstage. From their position on stage, he could look out and see where his family was seated in the specially reserved section by the side of the theater. All of their family members had smiles on their faces while the audience was silent as they took their positions and the music began to play.

 

Almost everything went perfectly from the start of their performance to about halfway through it. All of their movements were perfectly synchronized with the music and each other. It was as if they were made to dance together and it felt amazing.

 

Jongin had always made it his business to never make eye contact with the audience whenever he performed but as he changed his position for his solo, he gazed out into the audience only to see the one person he hadn’t expected to be there taking his seat beside his mother. The man was tailed by a rather tall blonde haired boy that Jongin recognized to be his cousin Junhong, who took the other vacant seat next to his mother. He was so shocked to see his father show up that he almost missed his queue for his solo but luckily he snapped out of it just in time and resumed dancing.

 

Jongin made sure that he put his all into every move and that everything was timed correctly, not missing out on the looks of pride that both of his parents were sporting. From his position behind the curtains, Sehun was beaming as he saw the amount of effort his boyfriend was putting into his performance. He didn't know what triggered the shift in him but he definitely wanted to see more of this Jongin.

 

Once Jongin's solo was over with, Sehun joined him on stage and both boys bowed at the standing ovation they received. There were even a few shouts for an encore heard around the auditorium. All in all, it was rather easy to tell that their performance was more than well-received.

 

When they went backstage they were greeted by a group hug from their friends and congratulations from some of their fellow students, who had also seen the performance.

 

“You guys were amazing out there!” Tao exclaimed once they released them from the hug.

 

“Yeah! I mean I knew you guys could dance, but that was probably one of the best duets I’ve seen in a while,” Minho agreed, high-fiving Sehun. Jongin just grinned as the compliments were being heaped on while Sehun was trying his best to slowly distance himself from the center of the crowd. However, before Jongin could ask the other if he was okay his attention was drawn back to the others. Finally, after about ten more minutes, the showcase was over and everyone was too busy congratulating each other or receiving congratulations for a job well done on another showcase. Jongin scanned the area for any sight of his boyfriend but he was nowhere to be found.

 

_'He probably needed a moment to himself to come down from all the excitement,'_ Kai thought to himself before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see both of his parents and brothers beaming at him.

 

Chanyeol enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug. "You were amazing, Jongin! I knew you were an amazing dancer but that was phenomenal, kiddo!"

 

Kris nodded in agreement and patted his son on the back. "Your mother is right, son, that was a great performance," he said, his voice tinged with pride. "...I guess I was wrong about this, about you, son." Kris looked away in embarrassment since it was a pretty rare sight for the Lord Guardian to ever publicly apologize for something. "What I'm trying to say is...I understand now that this is a big part of who you are just like being the heir to the Lord Guardianship is and I had no right to try to change you. Maybe there is room for both in your life."

 

"Thanks, dad, I'm glad you and mom enjoyed it," Jongin said, fiddling his fingers, not meeting his father's gaze. Chanyeol just looked on with a large grin on his face at the scene before him. Seeing two of his boys together and actually getting along made it seem like they were a normal family without the crazed sociopath trying to destroy them and everything they stood for.

 

Their tender father-son moment was interrupted by Jongdae pulling Jongin into a headlock. "Bravo, Jonginnie, I honestly didn't think you had it in you," Jongdae teased after ruffling his hair with Yixing following suit, causing Jongin to scowl at the action.

 

"....Thanks, guys," Jongin deadpanned and readjusted his hair to its former position. "Great to know you enjoyed it too. By the way, shouldn't the two of you be off somewhere harassing Tao or doting on Joonmyun?" His voice was laced with sarcasm. He could honestly say he hadn't missed that happening in his brothers' absence.

 

"Haha, Jonginnie." Jongdae rolled his eyes and released him. "At least I've gotten into Taozi's pants more than once." Jongdae hungrily eyed the boy in question from across the room. "As a matter of fact, I have a panda I need to go see..." He stalked over to his unsuspecting prey, leaving behind his two severely grossed out brothers.

 

"Yeah, I probably should be taking Myun home soon, his back's probably beginning to hurt and I owe him a massage. By the way, Joonmyun told me to tell you to have Sehun home before midnight tonight," Yixing said before going off to find his mate.

 

With both of his brothers gone, Jongin turned back to his parents. "I guess I'll keep up my end of the bargain now that the showcase is over with..."

 

Kris detected the hint of sadness in Jongin's voice. Noticing his son's slightly dejected look, he decided to speak up. "Not so fast, son. We can discuss those matters at a later time. I want you to enjoy yourself," he said with a reassuring smile, causing the younger kumiho to perk up.

 

"Speaking of enjoying yourself, where's the Oh boy at? I don't think your father and I have been properly introduced to my future son-law." Chanyeol smirked when he saw noticed the blush that ghosted his son's features.

 

"Oh...well...I actually don't know where he is, mom." Right as the words were leaving his mouth, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He opened it to see he had a text from Sehun.

 

**_From: My Bae Sehuna_ **

 

**_Hey Nini meet me in the alley outside the theater_ **

**_I have a surprise for you. ;)_ **

 

Jongin smirked at the thought of what the surprise could be, catching the attention of his parents. "Is that from your boyfriend~?" Chanyeol teased, causing both Kris and Jongin to roll their eyes at his childishness.

 

"I'm just going to step outside for a moment for some fresh air."

 

Jongin walked over to the back exit but not before he could miss out on his mother calling out to him to go get some and stop being such a prude, making him blush even more.

 

* * *

 

When he walked outside, Jongin was rather confused to see that Sehun wasn't waiting for him. He looked in both directions but didn't catch sight of his rainbow-haired boyfriend. The alley was rather narrow and long with not a person in sight or a noise to be heard with the exception of the occasional car driving by on the road.

 

_'Playing hard to get, Sehuna?'_ Jongin thought to himself while checking his phone again for any new texts from Sehun. _'He probably got tired of waiting and went back inside.'_ Before heading back inside, he decided to shoot him a text message to find where he actually was.

 

**_To: My Bae Sehuna <3<3_ **

 

**_Yo babe where r u at? Pls, tell me I didn't get J.J excited for no reason :\_ **

 

His smirk turned into a frown when he heard a noise that sounded like _Ice Cream Cake_ , which also happened to be the rainbow-haired boy's ringtone. Jongin scanned the alley again for his boyfriend but still didn't catch sight of the younger. _'That's weird... I could've sworn I heard Sehun's phone go off...'_

 

Deciding to investigate further he called Sehun's phone, only to hear his boyfriend's ringtone for him ringing in the direction of one of the dumpsters. He followed the sound as it got progressively louder the closer he got to the dumpster. Once in front of the dumpster, Jongin heard a pained groan over the sound of Sehun's phone. Following the noise, he peered around the side of the dumpster only to find a mop of rainbow hair slumped over. A wave of fear shot through the young kumiho prince at the sight of the unresponsive boy.

 

"Sehun!" Jongin bent down beside his unmoving boyfriend, realizing the gravity of the situation. "Babe, can you hear me?" He maneuvered Sehun onto his side so he was facing towards him. He gently pushed the hair out of the younger boy's face, revealing a black eye and a few bruises now adorning his once flawless face. "Baby, please you gotta speak to me so I can find out who did this to you," Jongin pleaded as tears began to sting his eyes.

 

"J-Jongin?" Sehun's weak voice called out, immediately getting the older's attention. Jongin felt the blood oozing from a wound on Sehun's arm onto his shirt but he didn't care, his only concern was making sure he let no further harm come to his mate.

 

"Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here and get you some help," Jongin cooed softly to the other as he cradled him closer.

 

"I-I'm sorry...I-I didn't see t-them." Sehun's voice grew faint and barely audible. "I'm s-so s-sorry, Jongin," was the last thing he managed to get out before the world faded to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys I hope you enjoyed this chapter and shit hitting the metaphorical fan for SeKai lol. As always comments and kudos are appreciated since I love hearing from y'all! Be on the look out for the next chapter soon okay byeeeee ❤


	12. A Headfirst Dive Into The Spirit World On Bad Bet

When Sehun finally came to a few days later, he wasn’t expecting to wake up in a luxurious king-sized bed in a room that certainly wasn’t his. Nor was he prepared to see a tall figure sitting at the foot of the bed.

  
_'What the fuck happened? Where am I? Where’s my shirt at?'_ Sehun thought to himself as he began to take in his newfound surroundings and tried to sit up only for a sharp pain to shoot through his body, causing him to wince in pain.

“I wouldn’t try moving so fast if I were you, Sehun. Some of your wounds aren’t fully healed yet,” the figure at the end of the bed said in a cheerful voice before moving closer to where Sehun was sitting. As it got closer, Sehun could see that it was actually a guy wearing a yellow hanbok with a rather youthful face and chestnut hair pulled back into a short, messy ponytail. Overall, he looked pretty normal with the exception of the brown fox ears standing proudly at the top of his head.

Fox ears? There’s no way those can be real…. Sehun observed in silent disbelief as the fox-man helped him into a sitting position. The creature began checking over the various bandages that adorned his torso and arms.

“Who are you? How do you know who I am? Where’s Joonmyun? Why am I here? H-how long was I out?” Sehun asked in rapid-fire fashion, even though he was still feeling somewhat tired and wary of the creature.

“Whoa there kid, calm down.” The fox-man stopped what he was doing and turned his attention to Sehun. “I promise all your questions will be answered soon. The name’s Chanyeol by the way, I can’t believe Jonginnie never told you about me.” Chanyeol gave a reassuring smile to the human boy while unwrapping the bandages covering his left arm.

Sehun winced slightly at the action. “Can you at least tell me where I am or what happened?” he asked before he noticed the reddish burn on his bicep. “What the hell happened to my arm?!” Sehun exclaimed as he inspected the scar.

“Oh... yeah, about that…” Chanyeol avoided the boy’s confused stare and began redressing the wound.

“What do you mean ‘about that’?! Why is there a giant scar on my arm?!” Sehun fumed.

Nothing was going right at the moment. His brother was nowhere to be found, nor was his boyfriend, he had no clue where he was or how he had gotten there, and to top it all off now there was some weird fox-man hybrid telling him to just calm down. Sehun needed to figure out what was going on and fast.

Chanyeol sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I think I should go tell Jongin and the others that you’re awake now. We’ve got an awful lot of explaining to do.”

The moment Chanyeol disappeared through the door, Sehun listened to his footsteps fade before he shot out of the bed and opened the door, heading in the opposite direction of where he'd heard Chanyeol going. Sehun ran as fast as his feet could take him down the seemingly endless and winding corridors, not caring about the constant pain in his injured arm or the fact that his body was beginning to become heavier with every step he took.

_‘Shit, how many hallways can one place have? I need to find my way out of this place and fast-’_

 

Before he could go any further, he felt himself run into a large object and struck it with his hardest punch before he felt himself crashing to the ground and blacking out again.

 

 

When Sehun came to a while later he found himself in the same bedroom he woke up in earlier. This time, however, instead of just one person in the room, he saw at least three other people gathered around his bedside.

  
“Glad to see Sleeping Beauty has finally awoken from his slumber,” Kai joked, helping Sehun sit up properly.

“Kai? H-how did I get back here?” Sehun asked, nursing his injured arm, flinching when he heard the unknown thing moving towards him. He looked up to see a newly brunette Wu Jongin smiling softly at him with a pretty black eye accenting his left eye. In addition to the black eye, Jongin looked like he hadn't slept in days and had even allowed his stubble to grow out a little.

“Didn’t your brother teach you it was rude to run through somebody else’s home, Sehuna, or, better yet, punch your host in the face?” Jongin gently reprimanded the younger after he helped him to get back on to his feet.

“Didn’t your parents teach you not to leave your unconscious boyfriend to wake up with some fox person instead of you being there?” Sehun shot a particularly nasty glare in his direction before noticing that similar fox ears also adorned the top of his boyfriend’s head. “By the way, care to explain why you also have fox ears? Why the hell are you wearing a hanbok?” Sehun snapped at the other boy.

“Actually, you were talking to one of his parents earlier, young man, and I think my hubby and I did a pretty good job teaching jackass over here some manners,” Chanyeol said before Jongin got the chance to, causing Sehun to stare at the fox-man in disbelief.

  
“Wait a minute, you’re his mom?!” Sehun blurted out and blushed when he remembered his earlier interactions with the elder. “B-but you barely look a day over 21!”

Chanyeol chuckled at the human boy’s reaction. “Aww, why thank you, sweetie! Now I see why you like him so much, Jonginnie,” Chanyeol gushed, playfully nudging his youngest child.

“Darling, as much as I also agree with the boy, I think we do owe him an explanation as to why he's here.” All eyes fell on the brown-haired fox-man at the of the bed who had finally spoken up.

“Yeah, I guess you're right, Yifan.” Chanyeol’s face became somewhat serious, for the first time since Sehun had woken up once he turned back to the young kumiho. “Looks like it's time for you to explain yourself, kiddo,” he said in a rather ominous tone that was somewhat unnerving for both Sehun and Jongin.

Jongin took a deep breath before speaking, focusing his gaze on the other boy. “I should probably start off by explaining the whole ‘fox ears thing’...” he said before gesturing towards his to the top of his head. Sehun just kept silent and continued to stare at him expectantly. Jongin sighed before continuing. “As you can tell I'm not exactly human-”

“No shit, Sherlock, we've already established this,” Sehun interjected.

“As I was saying, the reason I have fox ears instead of regular ears is that I’m actually... a kumiho. Well, a member of the kumiho royal family, just like my mom and dad and the rest of my family, including Tae and Soo.”

 

It was silent for a moment before Sehun burst out into raucous laughter, something none of them were expecting. “You actually think…. that I'd believe…. you were royalty... let alone supposedly the most powerful kind of supernatural royalty...” Sehun gasped out in between fits of laughter while the others just stared at him in confusion as they tried to figure out what was so funny. “.... I mean honestly.... you can’t be serious right?” His laughter tapered off when he realized that all eyes were on him. “You aren’t really being serious, right Jongin?” Jongin stayed quiet and it was all the confirmation Sehun needed. “What the actual fuck, Jongin?!”

 

Jongin winced at the clear disdain in the other boy’s voice. “Sehun, you have to understand. I only hid the truth from you until I thought you’d be ready to find out about everything.”

 

Both Yifan and Chanyeol were pleasantly surprised at the maturity Jongin was speaking with. Neither could believe that their normally selfish son had actually shown concern for someone other than himself.

 

However, it did nothing to quell Sehun’s anger evident on his face. “That doesn’t change the fact that you kept something like this hidden from me! I thought we were in this together and we could be open with each other, Jongin, but I guess not…” Sehun’s vision became glassy as the tears began to well up.

  
“I only wanted to keep you safe, Sehun. I thought that by keeping you in the dark, maybe I could protect you from harm like I’d been doing for the last twelve years,” Jongin explained, hoping that the other would believe him.

“Obviously it didn’t work so all those years of you “protecting” me have gone to waste,” Sehun sneered, clearly referencing his almost completely bandaged torso and arm.

“I wish I could've been able to stop the monsters who attacked you, but I will not stop until I bring all of them to justice for daring to touch you. For now, I guess I should finish answering all of your questions,” Jongin sighed.

Sehun wiped his eyes. “Look, I don’t care about anything else, all I wanna do is find out where hyung is so we can get out of here. If only I knew where here was...”

Yifan was the one to speak up this time. “You are nowhere on Earth, my boy, at least not the earth you know. We are in the Royal Palace of The Lord Guardian in the Spirit World. As for your brother, he should be roaming around the palace grounds with Yixing,” he said as though it was the most normal thing in the world.

 

A million thoughts, question marks, and exclamation points ran through Sehun’s mind as he tried to fully grasp what was going on. “The spirit world? You mean it’s real? Everything hyung told me is real? Wait, if we’re really in the Royal Palace then that means….” Realization dawned on the teen’s face “Y-you, y-you’re really the Lord Guardian?”

 

A proud smirk adorned Yifan’s face at the boy’s stuttering. “In the flesh and at your service," Yifan said proudly, sticking his chest out. “You’ve already have been introduced to my mate and I can tell you are very well acquainted with my youngest son.”

  
Sehun blushed at the insinuation. “With all due respect your majesty, can you tell me why I’m here or why I was attacked? As you can tell, dumbass over here,” he directed a glare in Jongin’s direction for what seemed like the umpteenth time that night, “decided it would be best to keep me in the dark about everything.”

Yifan chuckled at the young human’s spunkiness. “If the situation wasn't as dangerous as it was I’d help you beat the shit out of my idiot son, but,” Yifan’s face turned serious all too quickly, “we have bigger matters to attend to. Unfortunately, the reason why you were attacked had nothing to do with you but rather with events that occurred long before either you or Jongin were born.”

 

Sehun stared at him even more confused now than before.

“Dad, what do you mean?” Jongin asked, equally as confused as Sehun at his father’s words.

“I think it is finally time I told you about the events of all those years ago and hopefully answer some of your questions you both may have,” Yifan sighed before turning his back to them and looking out the window, Chanyeol by his side in an instance. “You may want to grab a seat, Jongin, this is going to be a long story and we're going to start from the very beginning…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hope you enjoyed that chapter and sorry it took so long for me to re-upload it (^^;). Also, I'll literally write a bonus chapter for anybody who can take a guess at what song the title of this chapter is based on. (I'm dead serious lol it may take me a while to finish it but I totally will) Anyways I hope you enjoyed and comments are always appreciated!


	13. Scent Of The Mist

_"Long ago when the Spirit World and that of the Human World were still joined as one, the kind and loving earth goddess, whose true name has long been lost in the winds of time, watched over the Korean Peninsula and all of its inhabitants while her fellow gods looked after the lands to the east and west of Korea. In those days Korea was a peaceful land of untouched natural beauty where spirits and the wildlife could interact with one another freely and never have to worry about the delicate balance between the worlds being disrupted._

_For a long time, it was peaceful for all the residents of the land and the earth goddess delighted in seeing her subjects living carefree and happily but then one day a new creature had found its way to the hidden paradise. The creatures were not like anything any of the inhabitants or the goddess had ever seen before. They were pale and mostly hairless, they were loud and spoke in a tongue none of the creatures could understand, they wore garments of many different colours and styles. It all signalled one thing: humans had arrived in Korea. Yet perhaps the most stunning of all of all the strange things the humans had was the new weapon they had brought with them. It had only ever been seen in its most natural form whenever a stray spark from lightning hitting a tree would occasionally swallow swaths of the pristine forests. However, it seemed that these new creatures had managed to tame and used it to their advantage. They had harnessed the power of fire._

_Things were peaceful between the native spirits and the humans for a while since the humans kept mostly near to the foot of the mountain range that they had crossed to enter into Korean. However, the spirits had not learned that man had a selfish streak and wanted to lay claim to anything they could get their hands on. The humans burned down many of the age-old forests and began building on top of them, driving the spirits and wildlife out of their homes. The nature spirits, although typically benevolent, refused to be pushed out of their homes completely by these strange new and took matters into their own hands, waging war against the humans._

_The war was as long as it was bloody and both sides suffered immense casualties. However, in the shadow of the conflict, a romance was developing between a young human boy named Hongki and one of the earth goddess’s personal bodyguards, a fox by the name of Yonghwa. You see, Yonghwa was not a normal fox, for he and his clanmates had been hand selected by the earth goddess to be her personal guards alongside the dragon clan generations before and were given the ability to shift into more human-like appearance, not unlike our own, as a gift from the goddess for protecting her from the many dangers that lurked in the untamed wilds of the peninsula._

_While their meeting may have been accidental, the love between Hongki and Yonghwa was a classic example of a whirlwind romance, as passionate as it was spontaneous. After many moons of meeting in secret, Hongki decided to take their relationship to the next level and give his body and soul to Yonghwa under the light of the next full moon. That night as they bask in the afterglow of their lovemaking session in the same bamboo grove where they had met, Yonghwa asked the young human if he would do him the honour of becoming his mate and wife. Of course, Hongki said yes and they reaffirmed their love numerous times that night as they prepared themselves for the potential repercussions in their union. After all, there was a war between their kinds raging on around them and a nature spirit and a human had never mated before._

_On the day of their wedding, Hongki was on his way to the bamboo grove where the earth goddess and Yonghwa were waiting to begin the ceremony when he was struck by an archer’s arrow. As he lay bleeding out and dying the only things on Hongki’s mind were whether or not his mate would get to see how dressed he was for the occasion or if he would be able to share with Yonghwa the joyous news regarding the life they would soon be bringing into the world. It was not to be and Hongki ended up losing his life alone on the forest floor, struck down by an anonymous assassin’s arrow._

_In the bamboo grove, Yonghwa sensed something was wrong and let out an anguished cry when he felt the life ebb out from his beloved. Both he and the earth goddess rushed to the scene where Hongki lay in a pool of blood. Once they descended upon the clearing, Yonghwa not only sensed the loss of life from his mate but also from their unborn child and cradled Hongki’s body close as he the tears cascaded down his face. Legend has it that with each tear that Yonghwa cried, a beautiful flowerbed sprang up around them. The fox spirit mourned his beloved for ten days and ten nights with the earth goddess standing watch over the couple, feeling immense guilt for her inability to save the young human boy’s life._

_One day, a battle between the humans and spirits broke out near where Yonghwa and the earth goddess where keeping their vigil over Hongki’s body. Furious at anyone who dared to desecrate the impromptu shrine he had created, and blinded by a hope for revenge against the ones who had snuffed out the life of his lover, Yonghwa flew into an uncontrollable rage and descended upon the battlefield. He attacked both sides indiscriminately with all the powers of the elements at his disposal. He was only able to be stopped when the earth goddess, who had been powerless to stop the conflict or the immense loss of life, intervened and managed to subdue Yonghwa and make him see the destruction that had been caused by his hand. Both the humans and nature spirits looked on in awe when the divine spirit made her appearance and only then began to see the error of their ways and how great the loss of life had been due to their blind hatred. The humans and spirits set about making a pact that would finally bring peace to the peninsula with Yonghwa and the earth goddess overseeing it make sure each side was treated fairly in the terms of the pact._

_The final conditions of the pact stated that the human and spirit worlds would be separated but this did not mean that spirits weren’t allowed to visit the human world and were allowed the ability to travel freely between the worlds as long as they did not harm any of the humans. Humans, on the other hand, were forced to respect the balance of nature and only take what they must and replace it two times over. Both sides agreed and after one hundred years of seemingly endless conflict, the war between nature and the humans was finally over._

_At the end of the peace meeting, the earth goddess appointed her most trusted bodyguards, the fox clan, as the ones to oversee the peace between the humans and spirits thus giving rise to the first guardians. She granted them each the power over one element and supernatural abilities that man and other spirits could only dream of. She also granted them a new true form, one that was not fully human or fox in addition to the ability to be able to shift back to their original fox forms. The new guardians were dubbed kumihos and instead of having one measly tail, they had multiple ones as a show of their strength. The more tails a kumiho had, the more powerful they were, with nine being the most any normal kumiho could have. For her most faithful and powerful servant Yonghwa, however, she bestowed an extra tail on him as restraint and a source of power for him and dubbed him the leader of the newly formed guardians and from then on was known as the Lord Guardian. A great cheer arose from both sides as Yonghwa had become a well-respected leader and was loved by all._

_As was his first act as Lord Guardian, Yonghwa raised the dragon clan to be the equals of the kumihos, enhancing the age-old friendship between the two spirit clans and not allowing them to feel slighted in the least. He also declared that the leader of the dragon clan would always act as the chief advisor to the Lord Guardian as a means to keep any potentially dangerous Lord Guardians in check and allowed for his court to be diverse and welcoming to all creatures. Little did Yonghwa know that under his leadership a great peace would be ushered into the land for the first time in many moons bringing joy to all who inhabited it._

_Sensing that her work was finished, the earth goddess went back to the forest clearing where Hongki’s body rested, still looking as he did the day he died and still adorned in the wedding clothes that he should’ve been married in. The earth goddess could sense that despite all the riches and love from his subjects, Yonghwa’s heart still ached longingly for his destined mate and sought to right the one wrong that had been haunting her since the day it had occurred. As a god, she was not supposed to know regret but it haunted her just as any apparition would. She knelt beside the boy’s body and with a silent prayer transferred her spirit to the boy, bringing life back into it once again. In doing so, she transformed Hongki into a kumiho granting him an extended lifespan just as she had done for Yonghwa and the other kumihos and dragon clan. She also gave a small amount of her essence to the child Hongki was carrying, enabling it to be strong and healthy when the time came for it to be born. The earth goddess knew that by doing this she would be sacrificing her life but did not care if it meant repaying her most loyal subject with the thing he coveted the most. With that one last good deed, she left this world behind leaving her legacy to be carried on by Yonghwa and Hongki’s descendants._

_When Hongki arrived at the newly built Royal Palace in the Spirit World after days of wondering around, Yonghwa believed that his eyes were playing a cruel trick on him by showing him an image of his long dead beloved mate. Only when he saw the bite mark, a traditional sign of a kumiho belonging to their mate, adorning the side of Hongki’s neck and when he felt a new bite mark appearing on his neck, did he believe it was truly his long lost mate. Upon this realization, he swept his beloved up and held him close as if he were to lose him again. Yonghwa was too caught in the swell of emotion to realize that Hongki not only had fox tails but also the ears to match nor did he realize the sacrifice that took place in order to bring his love back. When he did, however, Yonghwa released an anguished cry not dissimilar to the one he let out when he had found Hongki in that forest clearing many moons ago, upon finding out about the loss of his patron goddess and closest friend._

_On the night of the birth of his and Hongki’s firstborn child, a daughter named Mi-Ok in honour of the circumstances of her birth and her abundant beauty, Yonghwa was said to have not stopped smiling at the blessing he and his mate had received. At the feast celebrating her birth, Yonghwa declared that the earth goddess was to be the patron goddess of the kumiho and that any future Lord Guardian would be indebted to her for as long as they and their family shall live. Nobody objected and the feast continued on with each Lord Guardian after him honouring his words and paying their respects to the earth goddess who made our prosperity possible._

_Yonghwa and Hongki ruled for the next 2,000 years, presiding over what some may have considered one of the golden ages of man and eventually passed away leaving the title of Lord Guardian to be inherited by Mi-Ok. Legend has it that one day when they are most needed, the spirits of Yonghwa and Hongki will be reincarnated to stop Korea from being engulfed in the chaos of old caused by an ancient evil and reign over a new era of peace and prosperity by uniting the Spirit World and the realm of man once again...”_

* * *

 Yifan turned back to a misty-eyed Sehun and Jongin while a slightly teary-eyed Chanyeol wiped his own eyes.

“Oh, how I love to hear that story every time it is retold, Fanfan,” Chanyeol sniffled, continuing to wipe away tears. “Such a wonderful love story for the ages.”

Yifan caressed his mate’s cheek. “I agree, darling.” He turned his attention back to the younger couple. “I know you must be wondering how this tale affects you two.”

“And I can recall Joonmyun-hyung telling me some variant of this story when I was younger and couldn’t sleep but I didn’t know it was all true...” Sehun marvelled.

“With all due respect, dad, you have told me and my brothers this tale a thousand times but you never mentioned the prophecy at the end until now,” Jongin said, confusion also etched into his face.

“I fear dark times will be coming soon, my son, and now is the right time for you and Sehun to find out the truth about your destinies. Lee Joon is unlike any foe I've ever faced before not just due to the fact that he knows almost all of our weaknesses and won't hesitate to eliminate those in his way." Yifan sighed, worry etched all over his face. "Now if you would let me get to the other story you may find out what part you both play in this,” Yifan huffed, somewhat annoyed at being interrupted. “Ah yes, so where was I-”

“Ooh ooh, Fanfan, can I tell the story this time?” Chanyeol asked, clapping his hands enthusiastically, startling Sehun and Jongin in the process.

Yifan sighed, knowing this would be a losing battle. “Of course, sweetheart, just make sure to keep it to the point. After all, this tale also has you in it.”

Chanyeol kissed Yifan on the cheek, causing the younger kumiho to blush and turn back to the other two.

“It all started in Yeosu 900 years ago…”

“It wasn’t even in Yeosu! We first met in Incheon, Chanyeol! Yeosu was barely even a dot on the map when we met! Even I remember that and I’ve forgotten the kids birthdays god knows how many times since they were born!”

“Excuse me, Kris, but I was the one telling this story. How about you go and be useful by grabbing us some food since we're going to be here for a while?" To which his husband begrudgingly agreed to do before he left the room. Thank you very much.”

Chanyeol cleared his throat and went back to telling his story. “Now as I was saying…"

* * *

 

_"It all started in Incheon one summer 900 years ago, but back in those days, it was known as Gyeongwon. The city you know today was just a small port where various Chinese ambassadors and dignitaries’ ships would land due to its closeness to Seoul. My father had sent my brothers and me to the country to study what the realities of being a guardian would be like with our relatives who were the leaders of the guardians in their various towns. It was in the summer of my 250th year that Yunho, Jinki, Jonghyun, and I were sent to Gyeongwon to study with our Uncle Leeteuk, who was the chief guardian of that town. Dad would usually send us there at least once a year. Life with Uncle Leeteuk was actually quite fun and whenever we weren’t forced to study, our other uncle Kangin would take us with him and our cousins Ryeowook and Hyukjae to the shores to watch the ships as they entered the port.  Well, Ryeowook was our half cousin since he was the product of Uncle’s ill-fated love with a human before he mated with uncle Kangin, yet he still loved him all the same as if he were his own pup - but I will finish telling you two where Ryeowook falls into this whole thing later on._

_Anyways, that summer was to be one of discovery for my brothers and I. We were all considered young adults by the human standard, which meant a lot of raging hormones. Whereas Yunho and Jonghyun were not shy about sneaking into town disguised as humans and visiting the brothels there when the sun would go down, Jinki-hyung and I were more starry-eyed and waiting for our so-called knights in shining armour to show up, I guess. We had both been pursued by countless young noble kumihos and Jinki-hyung was almost pressured by mom into courting one of them. However, I knew he was actually smitten with one of dad’s apprentices and most likely his future heir apparent, Lee Changsun, who was also quite taken with him but had to stay behind at the royal palace when we left. I, on the other hand, knew that somewhere out there my destined mate was waiting for me and would continue to wait for however long for that day to come. Little did I know that he would be arriving sooner than I thought and in a manner I could never have expected._

_One day, I decided to sneak out of the palace to go down to the shores by myself. I had overheard the villagers talking about the famed general Wu Jianhao and his son who would be arriving from China that day and a grand festival was to be thrown in his honour before he was received at the home of the village magistrate. I watched from the front of the crowd that had gathered along the main road that led to the port. Nobody could see me since I was still in my released form - or at least that’s what I thought…”_

* * *

 

“Wait - what’s a 'released form'?” Sehun inquired after swallowing one of the buns that Yifan had brought back from the kitchens for him, still slightly confused by all of the new things he was learning about the Spirit World and its inhabitants.

“Kumihos have three main forms that we take depending on where we are and who we want to see us,” Jongin explained. “We have our sealed forms, our released forms, and our natural forms. The form you see us in right now is our released form which is how we normally look when we aren’t on Earth. Actually, only ‘aware’ humans are able to see us.”

“So, let me guess - that makes me and hyung ‘aware’ humans?”

A large grin appeared on Chanyeol’s face before he wrapped his arm around Sehun’s shoulder. “I like this one, Jonginnie! He’s so observant and smart! Our little boy has such a good taste in his mate eh, Fanfan?” he cooed while pinching Sehun’s cheek much to his chagrin. Yifan just smiled and nodded before allowing Chanyeol to continue with his story. “Where was I again? Ah, yes...”

* * *

_I was somehow noticed by the general's son, Wu Yifan and after a rather awkward first encounter, Yifan and I became close friends over the course of that summer. Before we knew it we spent practically every waking moment together. At the time neither one of us realized the pull we felt towards each other was due to our status as destined mates. I eventually introduced Yifan to my brothers, who also took a liking to him too, and treated him as another member of the family. Unfortunately, summer eventually had to give way to autumn and Yifan and father had to leave to return to the emperor's court in China, however, it wasn't to be as simple as that. I was on my way to see Yifan off later that night when I came across what was a rather gruesome scene. A nobleman and his entourage had been attacked and robbed by what seemed to have been the local bandits in the area. The bandits took everything including weapons and even the horses while it seemed they want to make sure they left behind no witnesses either since the remains of the travellers were strewn everywhere. I couldn't take the sight before me anymore and after performing a purification ritual to make sure their souls would be released without disturbance, I made my way to leave the scene. However, a voice that sounded familiar, cried out from where the carriage was and caught my attention._

_After pulling the man out of the wreckage, I realized it was a badly wounded Yifan who was on the verge of death. Unfortunately, none of my healing techniques worked and I was faced with only one option: I had to turn him into a kumiho. The ritual was only allowed to be used by the Lord Guardian or his Consort on a human they deemed worthy enough but deep down something in me knew that I was obligated to save him even though I didn't know what the ramifications of it would be. After I performed the ceremony, I dragged him back to my uncle's home. Suffice to say my family was none too pleased that I did this and broke the laws of our kind. Once Yifan was somewhat healed up and coherent enough, my father came to collect us so we could sort out the situation and what to do with the newcomer in our ranks._

_Most of my father's advisor's wanted Yifan sent back to China the moment he was fully healed, others wanted him dead in order to protect the Spirit World from any potential human threats._ _One kumiho who was equally as suspicious of Yifan was my father's apprentice Changsun, who wanted nothing more than to see the newcomer gone. Changsun always had held the belief that we kumiho were better than humans and that they had no place in our society. However, my father quickly shot down any arguments against welcoming a former human into our ranks by reminding his fellow kumiho of our vows to the earth goddess who had given us our powers._ _Eventually to the ire of the majority of his council members, my father decided to take Yifan on as his own personal ward alongside Changsun. Changsun and the other older council members were livid when they found out what he had done due to the fact that being invited into the household of the Lord Guardian was a major honour that wasn't typically given to anyone. Changsun himself was only taken on as my father's apprentice due to the fact that he showcased an exceptional amount of power from a young age. None of us knew that the events of that fateful day would still have ramifications that still echo today._

* * *

“Your father and I never thought you and your brothers were ready. But now with Joon on the loose again and especially since Sehun was attacked, we decided it was time to tell you the full truth,” Chanyeol stated softly. “We also wanted to finally tell Sehun the truth about his parents, which leads to my earlier point about your cousin Ryeowook.”

Yifan was the one to speak up this time. “As you already know, Jongin, your cousin Ryeowook is the half-human son produced from the short-lived fling between your Uncle Leeteuk and a human woman. He grew up an orphan on the streets of Gyeongwon with no idea of his true heritage. One day Kangin was out with Leeteuk in the town marketplace when a filthy young boy tried to pickpocket him.

Leeteuk chased the boy down until he ran into a dead end alley. When the boy turned around, Leeteuk was shocked to see that he was essentially a spitting image of himself. It was in that moment that he knew that he was his son. Leeteuk tearfully introduced himself to the boy, whose name was Ryeowook, and told him that he would never have to steal again and offered him a home with him and his family.

Ryeowook gladly accepted, and that night Leeteuk sat both Kangin and Ryeowook down and told him the truth of about Ryeowook’s heritage. Since Ryeowook had been born years before Leeteuk and Kangin had mated and Leeteuk had no clue that he existed, Kangin was not upset with him about allowing the boy to live with them and, in fact, welcomed him with open arms.

Ryeowook adjusted to his life as supernatural royalty very nicely and was eventually granted immortality by his father and stepmother. Fortunately or unfortunately, Ryeowook wasn’t one to fight his more “primal urges” if you know what I mean and was a frequenter of many of the brothels around the town and Korea whenever he went with his father on official trips. As you know, condoms weren't really a thing back then.

One thing led to another and, well, let’s just say there were a lot of mini-Ryeowooks running around the country. Not wanting his children to grow up the same way as he did, Ryeowook made an attempt to help raise his children in any way he could. Those mini-Ryeowooks eventually had more mini-Ryeowooks running around until they eventually led to the creation of clans who could trace their lineage to him.

The two clans were known as the Cha and Kim and eventually based themselves in what would later be known as Seoul. They both worked side by side with the dragons and kumihos and acted as our eyes and ears on Earth. Both clans had unusually long lifespans due to their kumiho blood and ended up intermarrying with other spirits leading to the supernatural bloodline not being diluted.” Yifan turned to Sehun. “Your father was also a Kim, Sehun.” That quickly caught Sehun’s attention.

“You knew my parents?” Sehun’s eyes glimmered with hope at the prospect of learning more about his parents. “Wait, so does that mean I’m part kumiho? Holy shit, does this mean Jongin and I are related?”

“Yes to all three, my boy, but only very distantly. If anything, you and Baekhyun are much more closely related than you and Jongin will ever be. As for your father - Kim Minseok - was one of my right-hand men and best friends when I became one of the Lord Guardians,” Yifan addressed the younger wistfully. “He and Luhan were two of the bravest souls I had ever met and they loved you and your brothers very much.”

“Really? I had always thought that they didn’t want me and abandoned me and Joonmyun…” Sehun mumbled sadly, a far cry from his usual fiery persona.

“Oh, sweetheart, they would never do that to you two. You guys were their whole world,” Chanyeol assured the young boy and pulled him into a warm hug, allowing him to finally shed the tears he didn’t even know he had been holding in. Even though he still wasn’t completely on board with the whole supernatural royalty boyfriend thing and he still really wanted to punch Jongin in the face, it felt nice to know that his parents were so loving and accepting of a stranger they had only met a day before.

“I believe that if either of them could have, they would’ve laid down a thousand lives just to protect you,” Yifan said in an attempt to comfort Sehun. Even Jongin felt a lump in his throat at the sight of his boyfriend’s pain.

Once he had wiped his eyes, Sehun pulled away. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to become so emotional. Would you mind telling me what happened to them?”

Yifan’s eyes widened at the question. “As much as I hate discussing the rest of the events of that night all those years ago, I guess I do owe you and Jongin this much.”

“As you both have probably figured out, I was never supposed to be one of the Lord Guardians or even in the running to be his successor,” Yifan began, his face as stoic as ever.

* * *

 

_“That honour was supposed to go to Changsun. However, as time wore on things changed and I somehow managed to prove myself to Lord Siwon and cemented my place as the future co-Lord Guardian. As usual with any situation that involved great change, Lord Siwon was again met with resistance from some of the older, more traditionalist Guardian clans who believed that a former human was undeserving of such a position."_

_"Included in that group of people was my former friend, Changsun, who by this time was known as Joon, had also become the Guardian of Daegu and had finally mated with Jinki. As you know when I first arrived in the Spirit World, he and I were bitter rivals but he eventually became one of my closest friends. Unfortunately as the years passed his heart was hardened by the many different tragedies he had witnessed before it was eventually clouded by jealousy and hatred. He came to view humans as the playthings of the spirits and believed that as Guardians we should abandon our roles of protecting our assigned humans and instead rule them with fear."_

_"We would not find out until after he was sealed away, the extent of his belief in his newfound ideas and I do not wish to relive the horrors we found in the dungeons of Daegu. Suffice to say he was not pleased to find out he had been passed over when it was announced that I would be becoming the new Lord Guardian. With the whisperings of the same jealous Guardians to guide him, Joon became convinced that I had stolen his right from him and isolated himself away from the court for the next century._

_One night, 375 years ago, there was a royal ball thrown to celebrate the birth of the Lord Guardian’s latest grandchildren, Jongin’s eldest brother Yixing and Joon and Jinki’s son Junhong. The circumstance of Junhong’s birth had already been shrouded in controversy since Jinki had left Joon halfway through his pregnancy and began to stay in the main royal palace in the Spirit World. Lord Siwon ended up stripping Joon of all his titles before exiling him to the Outlands of the Spirit World, forbidding him from ever seeing his son. Unfortunately, Joon was never one to be denied what he thought was his."_

_My memory of that night is still clouded greatly, but from what I can remember it was a joyous affair and all were invited to it. Your mother held Yixing while we accepted gifts from many different nature spirits. Alongside us, Jinki cradled a restless Junhong. He looked genuinely happy for the first time since he had left Joon, while they were also presented with gifts from more nature spirits. Everyone was enjoying themselves from what I can recall and it was full of laughter and merriment._

_However, all the smiles died when Joon appeared in the courtyard in a gust of fire demanding to see his son and mate. He was dragging with him the mangled corpse of one of Lord Siwon’s closest friends, Taeyang, who also had been one of his chief advisors and one of the main voices advocating for me to become Lord Guardian instead of Joon. Sadly from the looks of it, poor Taeyang was forced to suffer a slow and painful death._

_Before any of us could get over our collective disgust at the sight, Joon was making his way towards Jinki, a look of pure malice on his face. Everything that happened next was a blur and the only thing I can remember was telling everyone to leave and then facing off with Joon. Apparently, the battle was of epic proportions because when I came to, I was badly wounded and unable to move and an equally as injured Joon was attempting to engulf the courtyard in flames."_

_The only reason it wasn’t destroyed was thanks to the efforts of your father in subduing him long enough for Kibum and Jonghyun to transport him away to Mt. Jiri and seal him inside of the mountain for eternity... or so we had thought. Whilst Kibum and Jonghyun were away with Joon, Minseok began healing my wounds - and is probably the only reason I am still alive._

* * *

 

“It’s amazing to think of it now, but your father and I had never had a conversation up until that point and yet the man risked his life to save mine.” Yifan chuckled at the thought of his old friend. “It must have been a shock for him to have his second time at court as the leader of the Kim clan turn out that way.”

Both Yifan and Chanyeol saw the look of surprise flash across Sehun’s face. 

“You didn’t think that your father was just some peasant did you?” Chanyeol asked with his eyebrows raised.

“No… Like I didn’t even know that my dad wasn’t a normal human being until about twenty minutes ago,” Sehun reminded them.

“Ah yes, well in any case, after Joon was sealed away, Lord Siwon rounded up the most prominent of Joon’s supporters and conducted an investigation to find out what Joon’s motivation for staging the attack was," Yifan continued.

"None of the traitors would give him a proper answer and the closest thing to one was when one of the most powerful clan leaders kept repeating the phrase 'six to rise' in a fit of madness. It was only after years of searching through Joon’s journals and letters in Daegu did we find out that it was a part of some ancient prophecy that Joon apparently was obsessed with and was one of the factors that caused him to lose his sanity.

"After the incident with the Clan leader, Lord Siwon either stripped the treacherous families of their lands and powers forcing them to live menial existences as poor human farmers under the close eye the guardians watching over them or had the main conspirators’ leaders sealed into the mountains around the peninsula. Unfortunately, the only one who knew the full contents of the prophecy was Joon himself."

"For the next 350 or so years, things were finally at peace aside from the occasional disturbance. There wasn’t even a sign of our old enemies, the gwisin, in that span of time and it seemed like they might have been gone for good. Minseok served alongside Jonghyun as my top advisor and helped me to found the company that is today known as  _Wu Industries_ when we decided to move back into the human world. He was even named our middle son’s Jongdae’s godfather and had me to serve as his best man when he married your mother."

"Speaking of Luhan, he was a young water nymph from China who sought refuge in Korea when the revolution happened and supernatural creatures were once again caught in the crossfires of mankind’s wars. Of course, he was allowed to stay and Minseok volunteered his home so Luhan would have a place to stay and the rest is history, I guess. When your brother was born, everyone could see the love they had for Joonmyun."

Yifan paused before speaking up again, “Our happiness blinded us to the fact that the same evil we thought had vanquished was stirring right beneath our feet. Five years after Joonmyun was born, a few members of the Kim clan disappeared. They were some of the less spiritually inclined members of the clan, but members nonetheless, and your father launched an investigation. Well, that investigation eventually turned up empty handed and even the Guardians weren’t able to deduce who or what had taken them. When he found out that your mother was pregnant with you, he made sure to double the protection for his family since spiritual and business matters rendered him unable to be with his family like he wanted to."

"For the next year after Sehun’s birth, it seemed as though things had calmed down and things were looking up. However, Minseok confided in me one day that he believed something big was going to happen and soon. I hate to say how right he was…”

“Wait, what do you mean, Dad?” Jongin’s brows furrowed in confusion at his father’s cryptic statement.

Yifan sighed. “Minseok’s suspicions were proven to be right in a manner none of us were prepared to face. Unfortunately, Sehun, you may not be ready for what you’re about to hear.”

“I don’t care about whether it hurts my feelings, old man, just tell me what happened to my parents!” Sehun huffed, his patience completely gone at this point. “You’ve beat around the bush for long enough! Now I want the truth and I’m going to find out one way or another, whether you’re the one who tells me or not.”  

“You should take more care to remember who you are talking to, Sehun, I may be up in years, but that doesn’t mean I won’t show you what this old man can do little boy,” Yifan reprimanded the other, his icy gaze settling on the young human.

“As I was saying, it was snowy winter’s evening when it happened. The main Kim family compound in the Spirit World was broken into and set on fire. When the blaze had finally settled and a search and rescue team, headed by Jonghyun, was able to survey the ruins of the place where they were greeted by the bodies of a few guards who had tried to put a fight against whoever the intruders were. The more they investigated the place, the more it became evident that it wasn’t an accident given the complete lack of bodies found around the compound aside from the dead guards at the entrance. Once they got to the main house, it was found in slightly better shape than the other homes, but similar to them there was no sign of its inhabitants. The party searched the home to find any trace of the culprit and only came up with bloody graffiti that only said _'Soon.'_ "

"Just when they were about to give up hope, a cry from upstairs caught their attention. Jonghyun was the one who found Joonmyun cradling you - both of you were miraculously unharmed -  in a corner of one of the bedrooms. Everything in the room had been burned by the fire, but it was as if someone or something had placed a protection spell over you two."

"Unfortunately, there was no sign of either Luhan and Minseok and we had to assume that they had perished in the blaze. When Jonghyun brought you two back to the palace, Lord Siwon and I were faced with a difficult decision of what to do with you. Since Joonmyun was almost nine years old and probably would remember what had happened, Siwon manipulated his memories to make him believe that he been in an orphanage for the last year and a half with his baby brother after your parents had disappeared one night."

"We decided not to do the same thing with you since you were only a baby and wouldn't remember anything that happened that night. We assigned Yixing and Jongin to be your guardians before leaving you with a kindly orphanage owner with the hopes that once both of you were old enough, we would be able to take you back to the Spirit World. What we hadn't counted on was the orphanage owner passing away only a few years later and that orphanage being shut down soon after.”

“How come I don’t remember any of this, Dad?” Jongin questioned as he tried to keep his voice even and not let his emotions get the better of him. If he was already upset about hearing this, he could only imagine what was running through Sehun’s mind right now. “You manipulated my memories too, didn’t you?”

“We only did what we thought would be best for everyone involved, Jongin,” Chanyeol explained. “Your father and grandfather were only acting in the interest of the greater good.”

“Greater good? Mom, are you kidding me?!” Jongin was furious at his mother’s attempt to rationalize his father’s actions.

“Jongin, you will not speak to your mother that way! He is innocent in all of this, your anger lies with me,” Yifan snarled at the younger kumiho. “As a leader, you have to make difficult choices that may not make sense at first in order to ensure the wellbeing of your people. If we would’ve left them in the Spirit World, Joon’s remaining supporters may have come back to attack them, or worse. More innocent blood would’ve been spilt and Sehun wouldn’t have been able to live up to his true destiny.”

“Yeah, because that worked out so well and didn't end up with me finding Sehun practically bleeding out in an alleyway!” Jongin retorted.

This time Sehun was the one to speak up. “My destiny?!” He was beyond pissed. “Do you understand the hell that I went through growing up as an orphan? My brother and I barely had enough food on good nights and some nights we had nothing to eat at all. I watched him work numerous odd jobs and attend school just so I could get my medications and maybe, just maybe, have a halfway decent life!” At this point, he was shouting.

“Do any of you know what it feels like to be ostracized and bullied because you have to wear hand-me-down clothing because that’s all your brother can afford? Better yet, how it feels to constantly be taunted by other students at school because you don’t have the latest things that all your rich classmates have? How about having to constantly study your ass off while dealing with behavioural and anxiety disorders that made your life a living hell? Thinking you were crazy as a child because you saw things most normal people couldn’t see and having your older brother as your only friend?!”

Sehun couldn’t control the tears that were now streaming down his face or the familiar pressure he felt build up in his chest. He started to hyperventilate and all he wanted was to run away and hide, but he wasn’t the same scared child he used to be. He waited a moment to calm himself down and even rejected Jongin’s hand on his shoulder. “If Jongin was supposed to be watching over me then where the fuck was he when my brother and I were sleeping on park benches or scrounging to find food?”

“Sehun, please calm yourself -” Yifan began carefully but was cut off.

“No, I will not calm down! Why should I when I’ve just found out my whole life I was just a pawn waiting to be used by supernatural creatures I didn’t even know were real?! Or that my parents were killed because of some stupid age-old prophecy that I may or may not even be a part of?! I didn’t ask for this or to even be dragged into this mess. So you know what? Fuck you and your stupid guardians, fuck this prophecy, fuck all of this stupid bullshit! I hope Joon does get his revenge on you, maybe that way you’ll learn that people aren’t the playthings of the gods!”

And with that Sehun got up and stormed out, ignoring the throbbing pain he felt from the sudden movement. Right now all he wanted to do was get as far from those assholes as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooo I finally finished editing this chapter to the point where I'm actually satisfied with it. The original version of it went on way too long in my opinion and was pretty much two chapters of filler lol. Anyways I hope you enjoy the revelations in this chapter and as always your kudos and comments are greatly appreciated <3


	14. Half Moon

Jongin stared at the door his boyfriend had slammed for a few moments before feeling an overwhelming rage wash over him that was meant for one kumiho in particular; his father. Not only had this asshole pretty much helped to make his boyfriend and brother-in-law’s childhood shit but he had also manipulated Jongin's memories and used him as a pawn in his stupid chess game with this Join guy, nearly getting Jongin's destined mate killed in the process.

Jongin turned to his father with a look of pure disdain on his face. “You bastard! Are you happy now that you’ve completely overwhelmed him?!” he growled, rushing over to where his parents were standing. “Not only that, but you also manipulated your own son, your flesh and blood! When will you realize that I’m not your puppet to mold and use as you see fit, old man?!”

At this point, he and Yifan were standing practically at eye level with one another, neither wanting to budge.

“I did what I believed was best when I was confronted with a split-second decision,” Yifan gritted out, eliciting another growl from his son. The Lord Guardian rolled his eyes at the noise before continuing, “Maybe if you would’ve paid more attention during your lessons you would know that a true leader has to lead with both their heart and mind. Yixing and Jongdae seemed to have learned this lesson very well and know that being Lord Guardian isn’t always black and white. Maybe you should take a lesson from their book,” Yifan said, knowing that his words would cut Jongin deeply.

Chanyeol saw the flash of hurt on his son’s face and decided to step in before things would escalate. “Wu Yifan! Wu Jongin! Both of you, stop this nonsense this minute!” He cried out, a powerful wind gust surrounding him as he spoke.

It was more than enough to grab the other two kumihos’ attention. Chanyeol's anger and the wind dissipated once he saw the frightened looks Jongin and Yifan were giving him. “Now you,” he turned to Jongin, “Go and find Sehun. You saw how distressed and upset he was when he stormed out of here, gods forbid he overexerts himself again or runs into Monggu or any of the other less flattering nature spirits. Hopefully, he hasn’t managed to get lost again...”

Jongin opened his mouth as if wanting to protest, but upon seeing the stern look on his mother’s face he just gave a firm nod before leaving the room to find his boyfriend.

Yifan sighed once the door had shut. “Goddammit, that boy just doesn’t understand-”  
  
“Understand _what_ , Yifan? That he’ll never be on the same level as his brothers in his father's eyes? That his father is too much of a self-righteous prick to admit he may have made a mistake that could’ve possibly cost his destined mate his life?” Chanyeol snapped, his heated gaze focused on his mate. “Face it, Yifan, what you did to Sehun and Joonmyun wasn’t okay.”

 Yifan opened his mouth to speak but Chanyeol stopped him again. “Before you even say anything about how Joonmyun and Yixing were understanding about what needed to be done, please remember you can lie to anyone, but me. We’re linked together mentally and physically and have been for the last 898 years and I know when you’re feeling guilty about something.”

Yifan’s face fell at his mate’s words as they brought up painful memories from seventeen years ago. At this, Chanyeol caressed his mate’s cheek. “I know how much it hurts you to see them because of how they look so much like their parents - Sehun especially. Minseok and Luhan were my friends too, honey. Their deaths still hurt me as much as they hurt you, but there was nothing you or any of us could have done to prevent it. Sending the boys away was not the best answer. Because of the manner of their parents' deaths, they deserved the best childhood kids like them can have.”

At this, the normally stoic Yifan felt his defences collapse completely. Chanyeol pulled him close as a few tears begun to well up in the Lord Guardian's eyes.

“Gods, Yeol, you don’t know how many nights I haven’t been able to sleep because of how I still could see their faces every time I closed my eyes. I constantly wondered whether or not I had failed Minseok by not directly taking them in, or if they had eaten enough or had a place to sleep.” Tears continued to well up at the thought, but Yifan managed to keep them from falling. “I felt like such a heartless monster when I sent them away and distorted Yixing's and Jongin’s memories. My own children. What kind of being does that?!” Yifan asked, disgust lacing every syllable. “I guess Joon and I are more alike than either of us would still care to admit.”

It broke Chanyeol’s heart to see the normally proud and quiet Lord Guardian in such a state. He grabbed Yifan’s hands and pulled him even closer so that their foreheads were touching. “Listen to me Fanfan, you are _nothing_ like Lee Joon. Everything you’ve done was to help others and even if things may not turn out as you planned it, I know you only had good intentions at heart. You put everyone’s well-being before your own. You’re the most courageous and noble person I know.”

Chanyeol gave him a chaste kiss, which may have been brief but conveyed all the unspoken words needed to reassure his mate. “You should apologize to both Jongin and Sehun. Even though I know you meant well by doing what you did, they probably believe you did it without any attention being paid to how it would affect them."  
  
“Fine. It’s probably the least I can do to atone for what I did,” Yifan sighed, but relented, earning him another soft smile and kiss on the cheek from Chanyeol. “What would I do without you, Yeol?” he mumbled against the older kumiho’s neck, inhaling his sweet scent.  
  
Chanyeol chuckled at the sensation. “Hmm, you’d probably be lost without a clue or dead in a ditch somewhere.” He pulled away and made his way towards the door, beckoning Yifan to follow him. “Now come on, we need to go find Joonmyun in order to let him know what just happened. Jongin will calm Sehun down soon enough. We'll be able to talk about everything with them like rational people.” Yifan frowned but followed the other nonetheless.

“Oh, yeah, by the way; no sex for a month for that stunt you pulled with Jongin earlier,” Chanyeol said once his mate had somewhat caught up with him.

Yifan’s jaw practically came unhinged at Chanyeol's words. “Yeol, you can’t be serious, right?” he asked, hoping that he had just misheard what his mate had said, but as Chanyeol kept walking it gave him all the confirmation he needed. “Babe, you’ve never banned sex for more than a week. Please don’t do this.”

Chanyeol looked at Yifan and smirked. “Well, there’s a first for everything, Fanfan. Come on, now.” He picked up his pace, leaving behind his still stunned mate.  
  
“Fine, but you’re the one who is going to break first. You know you can’t go a day without Daddy being inside you,” Yifan called once he had connected his brain to his mouth again. It earned him a powerful gust that knocked him off of his feet and left him to watch as Chanyeol's glorious ass swished from side to side. It was in that moment that Yifan knew that this month would be the most difficult month of his existence.

 

* * *

  
Sehun had managed to get somewhat lost after he had stormed out and found himself in a garden sitting near the water’s edge of a small pond watching as the koi darted about in the water. He didn’t know how long he had been sitting there, but at that point, he didn’t care; he was just glad to have finally gotten some peace and a chance to calm down from all the craziness that had occurred earlier.  
  
 _'This place is so beautiful, I guess it really is fit for a royal family',_ Sehun thought to himself as he took in the beauty of the garden around him. ' _The last five hours have been so weird. I don’t even know what's true or false anymore.'_

A part of him, the less rational part, had wanted to kick the door open again and beat the living shit out of Jongin’s dad for what he had said earlier, but the less impulsive part of him won that battle.

Sehun would’ve sat beside the pond a few moments more if it hadn’t been for the prickling sensation at the back of his neck. Thinking it must be Jongin, Sehun turned around to give the other a piece of his mind.  
  
“Jongin, I swear to fu-”

Instead of seeing his brunette boyfriend, he was greeted by the sight of something that could only be described as a hulking monster that was snarling at him as if he were his next meal.

In the blink of an eye, Sehun found himself pinned by the massive creature, staring at an impressive set of fangs that could easily rip him to shreds. “N-nice kitty monster dog creature…” Sehun whimpered as the monster snarled at him again, sniffing him over. He tried his best not to move and prayed to any gods he could think of.  
  
 _'I can’t believe this is how it's going to end. I’m really going to die in the Spirit World with none of my friends or family around me. What a way to go out-'_  
  
A familiar voice broke him from his alarmed thoughts. “Monggu! We do not attack the guests! I raised you better than this, you need to get off of him and change back now!”

The creature, Monggu, Sehun assumed - made a noise akin to a disappointed huff and hopped off Sehun's body, giving him a view of his saviour. That saviour turned out to be a clearly fuming and slightly dishevelled Jongin who now was impatiently looking at Monggu.

The creature changed back into a softer looking version of what had just attacked Sehun. Where flames once were was replaced by a soft reddish-brown fur. The once completely white eyes turned expressive and into what looked like a mix of emerald and gold. Overall, the beast looked like it was relatively young, but definitely couldn’t be classified as a baby given the beginnings of what looked like horns starting to show on its head. Sehun found himself staring in awe at Monggu and wondering whether this magnificent creature really was someone’s pet or whether his boyfriend was insane for yelling at something that could easily kill him.

 _'Wait, Monggu? This thing can’t be the same little dog Jongin showed me pictures of…'_ Sehun had vaguely remembered Jongin mentioning his pet dogs and going on about how much he loved them; especially his baby, Monggu. However, the Monggu Jongin had shown him was a small toy poodle that looked as if it could easily be eaten by this creature in front of him.  
  
“I’m so sorry about that, Sehun, he’s not usually like this,” Jongin apologized, breaking Sehun from his thoughts. He helped Sehun back to his feet. “He knows better than to attack our guests, don’t you, Monggu?” Jongin asked the monster, to which he received a rather irritated huff and an angry glare. Monggu turned his attention to Sehun and let out an apologetic grunt.   
  
“Um, it’s fine.” Sehun reached out to pet Monggu on his head, which earned him a noise something akin to a purr which encouraged him to repeat the action until Monggu licked his hand in appreciation. “Uh, thanks….” Sehun replied to the slobbering dog creature as he tried to wipe the drool off of his hand before turning back to Jongin.   
  
“You really can’t take a hint when somebody wants to be left alone can you, Kim?” Sehun asked, feeling his anger beginning to boil to surface again.   
  
“Look, baby, I know-” Jongin attempted to reach out for Sehun but he shrugged his hand off, glaring at him. Jongin’s ears fell at his action.  
  
“Don’t fucking call me that, Jongin, you lost all rights to that claim the minute you decided to keep the fact that you were a supernatural creature hidden from me,” the human boy seethed, the disdain clearly evident on his face. Jongin had seen Sehun pissed off numerous times over the course of their long history with each other but had never felt the brunt of it in such a manner.  
  
“I know you’re mad at me and you have every right to be, but in case you weren’t paying much attention; I found out my memories were also manipulated, so we’re kind of in the same boat,” Jongin snapped right back.   
  
“That’s bullshit and you know it, Jongin. Don’t fucking act like you’re the real victim in this whole mess. At least you got to grow up in the life of luxury with your parents still around!” Sehun growled, pointing an accusing finger at the kumiho. “You know what, Jongin? I don’t even really give two shits about you being a kumiho or even about what your dad did to me and hyung. I can even look past the years of animosity that occurred between us, but what _does_ bother me is that you didn’t trust me - your so called “destined” mate - enough to at least tell me what was going on. I’m supposed to be the one person you can trust the most in the world and you didn’t tell me _anything_. How can you expect me not to be mad at you when our whole relationship was practically built on a lie? Not just any old lie, but a lie that nearly cost me my life!”

“Any lies I told you were for your own good! I didn’t mean for you to find out this way! Can’t you see I’m trying to protect you because I care about you?! For fuck's sake, Sehun, I just want to help you, don’t you get it?!” Jongin retaliated.  
  
“If you wanted to protect me, then why don’t you do us both a favour and just leave me alone?!” Sehun screamed, feeling an all too familiar feeling descend upon him. Jongin could also sense what was coming next and reached out to grab Sehun and pull him into a hug, but the younger flinched away and glared at him. “D-don’t touch me! I didn’t ask for this, I didn’t ask to be born this way, and I certainly didn’t ask to be involved in any of this!”

Sehun hissed; it was becoming harder for him to breathe and the air around him felt as though it was twice as thick. Each breath seemed like a futile attempt to inhale enough oxygen. His body was overwhelmed and the world was starting to shut down around him. He opened his mouth to attempt to speak again, but any words he had were suppressed by the invisible weight he felt crushing him. Meanwhile, as Sehun began to descend further into his panic attack, Jongin tried to reach out to him again, this time successful in pulling the younger into a hug. That was all it took for the tears to start trickling down Sehun’s cheeks.  
  
“Shit, fuck, this is bad,” Jongin cursed as he felt the boy begin to hyperventilate and become racked with sobs. “Sehun, I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

Realizing that being in the garden while Sehun was having a panic attack wasn't optimal, he teleported them back to the room Sehun had woken up in. He continued trying to comfort the sobbing human but to no avail. “Hun, you’ve got to calm down or else you’ll end up making yourself sick, or worse. Can you try focusing on me, baby? There’s nobody else around, just focus on me, okay?” Jongin begged Sehun and once again tried to get him to look at him, remembering what Sehun had told him to do in the event of him having an attack like this. Sehun tearfully nodded, still unable to form words, but affirming to him that he had at least gotten through to him with that.  
  
As he looked into Sehun’s eyes he could see the wide range of emotions in them, but the most prominent of them was the fear reflecting back at him. They stayed like that for the next few minutes as Sehun finally began to calm down and his sobs died down into soft sniffles, his breathing evening out.   
  
“J-Jongin…” It was such a soft and fragile sound that Jongin was sure that he had nearly missed it when he felt the younger start to seek further comfort in his embrace.   
  
“Yes, Sehun?” Jongin asked softly, still not releasing his grip on the other.  
  
“I understand why you didn’t tell me,” Sehun muttered, his voice somewhat muffled by Jongin’s clothes. “‘M sorry for getting so mad at you, Nini. I shouldn’t have-”  
  
“Shh, shh, you had every right to be mad at me,” Jongin cooed. “None of this is your fault, baby. If anything, you were right about a lot of what you said.” He caressed the younger’s cheek. “I should’ve trusted you more, and I definitely shouldn’t have yelled at you. All it did was cause more problems for you. Maybe we wouldn’t even be in this situation if I just would've listened to hyung and have told you everything from the beginning."  
  
“It’s fine, Nini, we all make mistakes,” Sehun whispered, his voice still somewhat raspy from all the crying.   
  
“But my mistake could’ve cost you your life,” Jongin pressed on. “I could never forgive myself knowing you were hurt - or worse - all because I was being a selfish asshole and couldn’t tell you the truth and-”

He was stopped by a soft punch to his arm.

“Shut up, Jongin, you’re fine. I’m not saying I’m forgiving you right away because I’m not - but I don’t want us to fight like that ever again,” Sehun said, his expression hardening slightly, but softening just as quickly with his next statement. “From now on, no more secrets between us, okay? That’s what being in a relationship is all about, Jongin. If I can try to tell you what’s going on with me then you can do the same thing, got it?”

Jongin nodded quickly, gaining a soft smile from the other. “Good. Now that we’ve gotten that settled... ‘m completely drained.” Sehun attempted to stifle a yawn but not with much luck.

“Do you want to take a nap?” Jongin asked after finally releasing him from his embrace.  
  
“No, I think I’ll be fine, but I do want to go and find hyung if that’s okay,” Sehun said sleepily as he walked over to the door.  
  
“Are you sure? I mean, you have had a pretty rough day considering everything that’s happened. Yixing hyung said they’d be in the library and stuff if we needed them, but I don’t think he wants you overexerting yourself or anything…” Jongin trailed off.  
  
“Jongin, I said I was fine,” Sehun said rather firmly, letting Jongin know he wouldn’t be dissuaded. “Besides, I think your parents and I need to have a little chat about everything I’ve found out. Now come on, you nerd, I’m sure they probably know I’m awake by now.” Sehun tugged Jongin into the hallway so he could follow behind him.  
  
“Uh, Sehun, I hate to break it to you, but the library is the other way…” Jongin supplied, leading the other boy to stop in his tracks.  
  
“Hey, don’t give me that look, this isn’t even my home. How was I supposed to know?” Sehun blushed.

Jongin couldn’t help but chuckle at his cuteness but stopped when he saw the other looking at him impatiently.

“Well, aren’t you going to lead the way, Mr Secret Prince?”

Jongin perked up immediately and started to lead them down the numerous winding corridors of the palace, making sure they didn’t wind up getting lost again. The long walk turned into an impromptu tour of sorts, with Jongin eagerly describing some of the rooms they passed by and various childhood memories he had experienced with the others. It was interesting for Sehun to hear Jongin describe the memories with such a vivid fondness.

“So, are there any other things I should know about you being some sort of fox prince?” Sehun asked as they were nearing their destination.  
  
Jongin took a minute to think before replying. “Aside from what you found out earlier and the fact that I can teleport anywhere I want to? Not really. Oh yeah, and I’ve been told my sexual prowess is the stuff of legends, but I don’t think that’s because I’m a kumiho but more so the fact that I’m the closest thing to a sex god there is.”

He smirked at the last part, earning him a hard slap on the back of the head courtesy of his unamused rainbow-haired boyfriend. “Let’s just... keep moving forward...” Jongin said sheepishly as he nursed the spot where Sehun had hit him, continuing their walk to the library where Sehun hoped he'd walk away from with more answers than questions this time.


	15. You Can Call Me Monster

Lee Joon was not a happy kumiho at the moment. He was furious. Not only had the Oh brat managed to survive his encounter with his men. He was saved by that bastard, Wu Yifan’s son. He knew he should’ve had killed the Oh boy when he had the chance eighteen years ago. If any of his plans were to advance, they both needed to be removed from the equation and rather soon at that. His mind drifted to the fact that Yifan was once one of his oldest friends. However, Yifan stole what was rightfully his, right underneath his nose. All the feelings of bitterness and hatred bubbled back to the surface as he continued to think of the usurper that ruled in his place.

‘Soon you’ll know what it feels like Yifan... you'll know every ounce of the suffering I’ve dealt with over the centuries. Your pathetic prophecy won’t be able to save you or your family. Once I take my place as the rightful ruler of the Spirit World, I’ll make you look on as I drain the miserable life out of all of them in front of your eyes-’ Joon was broken from his thoughts at the sound of the doors to his office being flung open by none other than Doojoon.

“You better have a good reason for showing up unannounced, boy.” Joon practically hissed at the younger kumiho who looked extremely proud of himself.

“I come bearing good news, sir,” Doojoon stated proudly before awaiting his master’s approval to continue speaking. Once the other gave a curt nod, he continued speaking “Our forces have managed to retake Daegu in your name again. We managed to easily overwhelm the small force of Guardians that had been assigned there by the end of the day. We’re already beginning to advance in the surrounding area.”

Joon smirked at the other’s words “Glad to see you and the others decided to make up for your failure to kill the Oh boy. Now tell me did you manage to capture Junhong and Jinki?” His voice hardened, thinking of his mate and son.

“N-no, master. Unfortunately, they had managed to disappear without a trace when we took back the palace.” Doojoon hesitated for fear of his master’s reaction. His fear was actually rightfully validated since any semblance of Joon’s good mood immediately disappeared. Before he could process what had happened, his body had connected with the wall behind him. He felt an invisible force constricting his throat. In front of him, his master’s eyes had turned a darkened shade of red as his rage took over.

“Doojoon, you have been with me since the beginning. You know I do not take failure lightly.” Joon’s voice had grown deeper and much more animalistic than it was before. “I asked you to carry out the simple task of bringing my mate and child to me and you couldn’t. Even. Do. That.” With each word, Doojoon’s airways began to close even more. His skin slowly was turning blue in colour, but Joon paid no attention to that and continued to speak. “I have waited centuries to finally be free again and have the chance to reunite with them. Somehow, you manage to let them slip through your grasp?!” He bellowed before he once again willed the younger kumiho’s body to be slammed into the wall again. Just when Doojoon thought his master would strike the final blow, he felt the pressure finally be relieved from around his neck.

The younger kumiho gasped as he tried to regain his composure once more. He attempted to stand to face his master. “F-forgive me m-master for m-my f-failure.” He managed to get out between gasps for air.

Joon’s eyes had changed back to their original dark grey. “I spared you this time. Take note that it would be in yours and the others best interests to not disappoint me again. Now get out of my sight.”

“Yes, sir.” And with that Doojoon bowed and retreated from the room, leaving Joon alone with his thoughts. The sound of the door opening broke him from them once again.

“Forgive me for intruding, master, but I heard the ruckus and thought I needed to check if you needed my services.” The mystery figure stated calmly in an almost trancelike voice. He appeared much shorter in comparison to Joon.However, nonetheless was nearly as muscular as he was.

“No everything is alright, Xiumin, I just had to remind my dear Doojoon of what I expect from him.” Joon replied casually as he retook his seat behind his desk “But since you are here you can fetch me a bottle of soju.”

“As you wish, master.”

 

* * *

 

It was quiet, perhaps a bit too quiet for Sehun’s liking if he was honest with himself. At the moment he and Jongin had just taken a seat at one of the tables in the enormous palace library. Sitting on either side of him was Joonmyun and Jongin while sitting directly across from him was Yifan who was as unreadable as ever. They had been sitting in silence for the past five minutes. Nobody was willing to make the first move and speak up. Yixing and Chanyeol had wandered somewhere else in the library, in order to give them their privacy. The only sound that could be heard was the random shuffling of the various servants tasked with the upkeep of the massive library. Suddenly Chanyeol’s boisterous voice could be heard from elsewhere in the room.

“Oh for fuck’s sakes! Will one of you please say something already?! So we can get this over with?!” He yelled in hopes of getting them to actually stop beating around the bush. Yifan cleared his throat and decided it’d probably be best to heed his mate’s words.

“So I know we didn’t start off on how you’d say... the best footing with each other, Sehun. I, uh, do understand where your anger lies with me-Fuck this sounded much better in my head.” Yifan sighed in frustration. The other three shot him curious looks. “At that point, I was only trying to fulfil my best friend’s wishes and protect his children the best way I could since I had failed to protect him. I guess what I’m trying to say is although I had the best intentions in mind when I sent you and Joonmyun away as children things did not turn out as planned. I was wrong and I’m sorry for any pain I caused you and your brother growing up.” He then turned his attention to Jongin “The same goes for you, my son. When I manipulated your memories, I had done so in hopes of you being able to eventually carry out your duty of being Sehun’s guardian and protecting him from any harm. Just as Yixing had done with Joonmyun; at least until it was time for you two to find out about your destinies. Unfortunately, Joon had other plans and decided to make the first move, which endangered both of your lives. If I hadn’t been so short-sighted, I would’ve realized what was going to happen. Instead, I thought I knew best. My arrogance almost ended with one of you being killed and for that, I ask you both for forgiveness.” Yifan spoke with a clear and sincere tone. It proved to Sehun that there was no ulterior motive behind his words.

“Speaking on my own behalf. I accept your apology, Mr Wu. Although it may not have been anywhere the ideal life. I wouldn’t have traded my childhood for anything in the world.” Joonmyun stated with his usual warm smile gracing his face “It allowed me to see my brother grow to be the fine young man he is today.” He gave Sehun a pat on the back, who in turn flashed a smile at him before he stood up. “Now that’s taken care of. It is up to my brother if he will forgive you or not. I, on the other hand, am going to go find my mate. You three can discuss what you need to discuss.” With that, Joonmyun disappeared into the vast expanse of the library, leaving Sehun and Jongin with a somewhat nervous looking Yifan.

“So I guess after hearing your reasons for doing what you did, I kinda have no choice but to accept your apology, dad.” Jongin said, slightly begrudgingly “But that still doesn’t fully excuse what you did. It honestly still kinda sucks to know that you didn’t fully trust me enough to know.”

“Jongin’s right. I can forgive you for what you did, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to trust you one hundred percent, sir.” Sehun spoke up in agreement with his boyfriend’s words. He believed that Yifan had been doing what he thought was best. However, did still almost end with him nearly being killed by some godforsaken monster in an alleyway. Both boys thought that the older kumiho would be disappointed in their response. Instead, his face had changed into one of relief.

“I know it will take a while before trust can be rebuilt between us or even in the first place in your case, Sehun but you have to start somewhere right?” Yifan stated calmly. He looked between the two of them. “That is why I am going to offer you and your brother the opportunity to move into an apartment much nicer and closer to our family residence. I’d offer for you to stay there, but I know Yixing and Joonmyun would like their own privacy and comfort as Joonmyun begins to reach the final stage of his pregnancy and before you can even ask, all expenses on this apartment and your tuition at your university will be paid by me as a small way to make up for all the troubles I have cost you, my boy,” He couldn’t help the tiny smirk that formed upon seeing the young man’s shocked expression.

“Dad, are being serious right now are you?” Jongin was in a state of shock. He had heard of his father’s generosity toward others but had never seen it up close and personal.

“Jongin, you of all people should know I’m not one for making many jokes. I assure you. I mean every word I’m saying and that I want to ensure that they never have to deal with any financial hardship ever again. Besides, I believe that once Sehun is fully healed in a week or so’s time, he should be able to also begin his training with you and the others. That way when the time comes he'll be able to properly defend himself.”

“Uh, w-with all due respect, sir, this seems like way too generous of an offer. I wouldn’t want to burden you or your family anyway…Besides, I’m pretty sure I have no magical powers. I’m just a boy with ADHD who can’t focus to save his life. The only thing going for him is his boyfriend and his ability to dance.” Sehun didn’t meet Yifan's gaze or notice Jongin’s frown when he puts himself down.

“Nonsense, my boy! You and your brother are just as much family as your parents were to us. Our home is always open to you two and that includes a share of our wealth too.” Yifan stated rather nonchalantly. “As for your spiritual training, your parents were able to see when you were only an infant that you had great potential when it came to your powers. All you need is a little training and you’ll be on your way to unlocking your full potential. To ensure that you do, I will oversee your training myself with Jongin’s uncle, Jonghyun, or Chanyeol filling in when I can not be there.”  He stood and placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder “You come from a proud heritage that is descended from the gods themselves. The legacy of the Kim clan can live on through you, Sehun. I know that all of this is new to you, but I believe that you do have what it takes to become just as legendary as some of your ancestors.” Yifan attempted to stifle a yawn, but to no avail, as the day’s events were wearing on him “You do not have to give me an answer tonight. I know this a lot for both you and Jongin to take in at the moment so I shall be retiring for the night.” He then walked away from the table, leaving the two boys seemingly alone in the library. 

* * *

 

“So~, that was a rather interesting conversation, if I do say so myself…” Jongin said as they navigated the winding palace corridors back to where their rooms were located. Somehow along the way, Monggu had managed to sniff them out and was now cuddled up to Sehun. Sehun followed Jongin’s lead.

“Yeah, interesting doesn’t even begin to describe it in my opinion.” Sehun replied, giving Monggu a pat on the head, getting a delighted response to his actions  “Your dad literally went through a one-eighty on us, to be honest. I’m not complaining or anything, I just still find it hard to believe that was the same guy who sprung all that on us earlier. Your mom must have done something terrible to him for his attitude to change like that.”

“Eh, my dad has always been a serious and the sorta brooding type of guy or at least for as long as I can remember. I mean I can kinda understand why he’s like that. After all, so many people in the human world and here depend on his leadership ” Jongin shrugged as they turned another corner “I guess that’s why my mom is always there to make sure he stays grounded and doesn’t let it all get to him. He’s usually the only person that can really get through to my dad when he decides to act like a dick. I’m guessing he probably yelled at Dad once I left to go find you; because he was acting like a royal ass and that might have made him change his attitude a little.” Sehun couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of Yifan cowering in fear of a fuming Chanyeol. Jongin noticed and gave him a curious look, “What’s so funny, Sehuna?”

“Just thinking about how your big bad dad was scared of your mom when he yelled at him.” Sehun giggled as they continued down the long corridor “It’s kinda funny to envision your dad cowering with your equally tall mom chewing him out. It must have been a sight to see honestly.”  

Even Jongin couldn’t hold back the laugh that escaped him when he pictured it in his mind. “You’re right. That probably would be pretty funny, to be honest. I’ve seen my mom’s wrath first hand and it is a sight to behold.” They continued laughing, not even caring about potentially waking up anybody. It was just the two of them in their own little world. For the first time in a while just enjoying each other and being together. Jongin noticed how well the moonlight accented Sehun’s features. It made him look even more beautiful than he thought possible.

“They seem like they love each other a lot though,” Sehun said once he managed to catch his breath. “It must have been very interesting growing up in a household with them.”

Jongin smiled as they got closer to Sehun’s room. “Yeah, they do. I always told myself I wanted a relationship like that with my mate whenever I met them.” They blushed at his words before stopping in front of the door to Sehun’s room.“Well, we’re here now. I guess Monggu and I will see you at breakfast.” Jongin said awkwardly before he turned his back to the other. A hand on his shoulder pulled his attention back to the other boy.

Sehun didn’t meet his gaze, but Jongin could see his sheepish smile as he spoke up, “You know it was pretty lonely sleeping in that big bed. I figure that all that space s-shouldn’t really go to waste or anything…so I was wondering maybe if you wanted to possibly spend the night in my room…?” Jongin couldn't help his tail twitching in slight anticipation at the other’s choice of words. He tipped Sehun’s chin up so they were looking at each other directly in the eye.

“Are you asking to finally sleep with me, Sehuna? You decided you wanted some of Jongin Jr?”He smirked at the other boy’s jaw nearly dropping to the floor.

“What?! No! I just meant sleeping in the same bed. So I wouldn’t be cold, you greasy asshole!” Sehun exclaimed.

“Actually, I think your asshole would be the one to be greasy in this situation, baby,” Jongin replied smoothly as he caressed his boyfriend’s face only to have his hand batted away by the other.

“Ugh, forget I even mentioned it, you pervert. Honestly, I probably should just let Monggu sleep in the bed instead of your perverted ass. At least he’d know how to keep it in his pants….” Sehun grumbled although they both knew he didn’t mean it. He opened the door to his room. He went inside with Jongin and Monggu following close behind him. Apparently, the palace servants were already one step ahead of him. On his bed, there were two sets of nightclothes laid out, for what he assumed to be for the two of them. Jongin was all too eager to change into the pajamas but decided to forgo the top. Instead opted to sleep shirtless, giving Sehun the perfect opportunity to ogle his nicely toned tanned body. Of course, his boyfriend took notice of this and couldn’t let the opportunity to pass by to tease the human boy.

“I guess you’re liking what you see, baby. Since you haven’t stopped staring since I put the pajamas on.” He practically purred while he helped Sehun put on his pajamas, mindful not to touch any of his bandages. “I’m only kidding, Sehuna.” Jongin chuckled when he saw the other’s face nearly as red as a beet, once he helped to pull the shirt over his boyfriend’s head. He was promptly met with a pillow to the face when Sehun sat down on the bed.

“Well, are you going to just stand there all night or are you going to cuddle me like what a good boyfriend is supposed to do?” Sehun asked rather impatiently knowing that would easily get the kumiho moving. Sure enough, he wound up with a kumiho practically attached to his back. They got comfortable underneath the covers while Monggu laid down next to Sehun’s bedside. The young haetae was asleep in a matter of minutes. Little snores could be heard from him. Meanwhile, Jongin pulled Sehun closer, if that was possible, and allowed his tail to wrap around the both of them before he placed a kiss on his lover’s cheek.

“Goodnight, Sehuna, have sweet dreams for me.” He mumbled sleepily as he began to drift off.

Sehun nodded and yawned.“Night, Nini.” Before he too lulled asleep by the sounds of nature from the window. That night, Sehun dreamt of his parents for the first time in years. Instead of a nightmare where they abandoned him and his brother, it was a much more pleasant dream. A dream, filled with his mother’s beautiful voice, singing him lullabies. His father’s boisterous laugh as he and Joonmyun joked around. For the first time in years, he felt almost completely content for just one small moment. That was just fine in his book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and as always comments are appreciated! I love hearing from you guys <3


	16. An Innocent Warrior

It had officially been two weeks since Sehun had accepted Yifan’s offer. So far, Yifan had been true to his word. He began to train Sehun the moment that Chanyeol gave him the clear in regards to his injuries. Every morning for the past week, the training involved Sehun having to be dragged out of the shared bed with Jongin, before the sun was barely reaching past the horizon. So that they could meet Yifan in one of the palace’s many gardens for an early morning meditation session.

The rest of Sehun’s day consisted of martial arts training. Alongside the others under Jonghyun and Yifan’s supervision, breakfast with Jongin’s family, a history lesson about his clan’s powers and various ancestor’s achievements. Dinner with the family that had been specially made by either Kibum, one of Jongin’s aunts that Sehun had learned, or Kyungsoo. Finally, there was a late night meditation session before he could even have a moment to himself.

Unfortunately for Sehun, he wasn’t the most adept at martial arts. Even though his sparring partners, Taemin and Kyungsoo, promised they’d go easy on him, he often found his body meeting the ground more times than he’d like during their practice battles. In addition, he had yet to remotely connect to his spiritual powers. He typically ended up fidgeting and being unable to concentrate during meditation sessions. Yifan was a stern teacher who tried to be understanding of Sehun’s situation. The young human knew he wasn’t going to get any special treatment.  Jongin told him about how serious his father was about training.

Currently, Sehun was with Jonghyun, Taemin, and Minho. They observed a sparring match between Baekhyun and Jongin if it could be called that.  You see Jongin was, to put it gently, getting his ass kicked by the young dragon prince. Today, Jonghyun and Chanyeol were in charge of the training; since Yifan was in the human world with his brother and Yixing to get their stuff moved into their new luxury apartment. They had decided that Jongin and Baekhyun should be the ones to spar with each other for today, although it ended up being rather one-sided. Meanwhile, Sehun couldn’t help letting out a laugh or two as he watched his sometimes overconfident boyfriend get royally schooled in martial arts by one of his best friends. He was still getting used to the fact that all of his friends were in some way connected the supernatural world.

“Just give up already, Jongin. Baekhyun’s obviously already beaten you!” Taemin called out to his stubborn cousin as his block was broken by Baekhyun’s kick. He ended up landing flat on his butt for the umpteenth time that day.

“Okay, okay I give up.” Jongin huffed once Sehun helped to pull him to his feet. “Baek, are you sure you weren’t fighting me at full strength?” He quipped, massaging his sore back muscles. His tail flicking in annoyance.

Baekhyun chuckled at his friend’s words. “Nope. I think you’re just really out of shape, Jonginnie. Hmm, maybe you should take Uncle Kris’s advice and practice your skills more.” He smirked when his friend tried to grab him, which Baekhyun was able to easily dodge before pulling Jongin into a headlock.

“Jongin, you should probably be a little more subtle in your actions on the battlefield,” Jonghyun commented from his spot next to Taemin. “Joon’s gwisin, or any of his henchmen, will be sure to exploit any weakness they can find. At that point, it may be too late for you to do anything to protect yourself. Also, Baekhyun, please release my nephew before you completely cut off his air supply.” Jonghyun sighed in exasperation at his two idiot students.

“Oh yeah. Sorry about that, Uncle Jjong.” Baekhyun quickly released Jongin from the chokehold. “Sometimes I forget my own strength.” He smiled sheepishly.

“Well, I think that’s enough sparring for the day,” Chanyeol stated as he joined them in the practice arena. “Hyung, I think we should probably move on to some more spiritual training.”

Jonghyun nodded. “I agree. Hopefully, we can help Sehun unlock his spiritual energy this time around.” He looked at the young group of students. “Come on, we’re going to the meditation garden.” And with that, all seven of them made their way to the other side of the palace. Actually, it was more like Jongin teleported himself and Sehun to the meditation garden and were waiting for the others to show up.

* * *

 

They had been meditating for the past two hours. Sehun was completely and utterly frustrated. No matter how hard he tried, it seemed as though he would never be able to unlock his spiritual energy, much to his dismay.

“You’ll never unlock it if you let your frustration overtake you,” Jonghyun stated like he had read Sehun’s mind. They were all sitting underneath one of the large willow trees in the garden and the others were seemingly completely concentrated on what they were doing. “The whole key to unlocking your spiritual potential is the fact that you cannot force it to happen. You’re going to have to relax your mind and body. Let it happen naturally or else it will not happen at all.” Jonghyun placed a hand on the human’s shoulder to reassure him, and then sat down next to him. He assumed a similar meditation pose as Sehun.

“Now follow my lead.” Sehun nodded determinedly at his words. “Close your eyes and take a deep breath.” The young human followed along. “Now keep taking deep breaths and focus all the energy you feel to the palms of your hands.” Sehun again followed the instructions he was given. He actually felt a tingling sensation as it began coursing through his body. “Now as you do this, envision that energy you feel manifesting itself into a physical form.” He tried with all his might to envision everything that Jonghyun had said, but it seemed as if he was destined to fail once more.

Sehun heaved a frustrated sigh and opened his eyes once more. “I’m sorry Jonghyun. But I don’t think this is going to work. I tried my hardest but it just seems like no matter what I do, I can’t connect with that side of me.” He frowned in disappointment.

“Sehun-” Jonghyun attempted to speak up but didn’t manage to get the human’s attention as he continued his mini-rant.

“I know you’re going to say the same thing that Yifan and Chanyeol have told me. That I need to be patient and just let it happen… But I just don’t think it ever will. I know you guys keep saying I have the potential for greatness and that my family clan was among some of the most powerful humans, but I don’t think I’ll ever live up to the family name.” Sehun sighed.

“Sehun maybe you should-” Jonghyun tried speaking up again, only to be cut off once more.

“I’m sorry, but I think I’m going to have to call this one a bust and go back to the room until Kris is ready for us to go back to the human world.” Sehun attempted to stand up but stopped when he felt that he was floating at least a foot off the ground and was being kept that way by a puff of air underneath of him. “Holy fucking shitballs! I’m floating...Wait why the fuck am I floating?! Am I an Airbender now?” He looked at Jonghyun, who was standing in front with a shit eating grin on his face.

“It might be because you’ve just broken through your spiritual block. And I have no clue what this Airbender is that you speak of.” The older kumiho chuckled and helped the other stand on the ground again. “See, that wasn’t too hard. Was it now, Sehun? ” Jonghyun stated as he watched the excitement flash across his pupil’s face. He watched as the young human summoned another powerful gust of wind. This time aiming it in the direction of a training board, that was sent flying to the other side of the garden.

“Holy shit, this is so fucking cool! I’m an Airbender now!” Sehun exclaimed as he sent a weaker gust towards one of the training dummies nearby.

“Uh Sehun, maybe you should slow down with the wind. After all, you’ve only just unlocked your powers.” Jonghyun spoke up hesitantly as the human sent another training board flying.

“But this is so much fun~” Sehun whined as he tried to help himself levitate again. But he received a stern warning look from his teacher and decided it’d probably be best if he listened to the older kumiho. Meanwhile, observing the master and student from the short distance of one of the shaded patios was Chanyeol and Minho.

“Wow, looks like Sehun’s already eager to test out his powers eh, hyung?” Minho chuckled, after seeing Sehun almost knock Jonghyun off of his feet with an accidental wind gust. Chanyeol also couldn’t help smiling at the scene before him.

“I think eager would be an understatement, Minho, but it is great to see him begin to unlock his potential,” Chanyeol replied as Sehun propelled himself off the ground and wound up crashing into the still meditating Taemin who was completely disconnected from his trance and look rather ticked off at his best friend for disturbing him. His response was to jokingly punch Sehun in the gut. But given his supernatural strength, it still ended with the human clutching his side in pain while Taemin laughed at him.

“How are Jongin and Baekhyun even able to ignore those two?” Minho questioned, watching the two play fight with Taemin, obviously gaining the upper hand relatively easily, while Jonghyun just watched on in exasperation.

Chanyeol shrugged. “Guess it’s all the years of focus training Yifan has given them.”

“Well, those two look like they’re very hard at work.” A voice caught their attention. The two turned to see it was Kibum walking up to them, with Kyungsoo alongside him. Both of them were carrying trays of lunch and tea, which they assumed were for themselves and the others once training was over with. Over the past few weeks, Kibum’s baby bump was beginning to show slightly. It was much easier to distinguish his pregnancy besides the extra weight. After setting the trays down, Kyungsoo helped his mother sit down on to one of the cushions next to Chanyeol before he took a seat next to Minho.

“So I see Sehunnie has discovered his powers,” Kyungsoo remarked as a stray blast of air, courtesy of one Oh Sehun narrowly missed them.

“Yup, you two just missed it,” Chanyeol said excitedly as they continued to watch the scene unfolding along with the others.

“The boy does have quite a lot of potential. But he still has a sharp learning curve to catch up to, if he is to be able to defend himself from Joon and his gwisin.” Kibum mentioned as he took a sip of his tea.

Chanyeol looked deep in thought a moment before he spoke up again. “Hm, that is true, but I have faith in Sehun. Besides, if anything happens he still has Jongin to fall back on.”

“And us!” Minho chimed in cheerfully, motioning to a Kyungsoo and himself. Kibum could only roll his eyes at his somewhat simple son-in-law’s antics, although he had to admit the young human was beginning to really grow on him and his mate. Minho had proven himself to be a worthy future mate for their youngest son. He even had begun to allow the boy to call him “umma” instead of just Kibum, like before when things were still somewhat awkward between them.

“You should probably focus on making sure your arm is all healed up, before you can do any fighting, Minho.” Kibum reminded the younger, whose smile faltered slightly after taking a look at his still bandaged arm in its sling.

“Ugh don’t remind me, umma, I haven’t been able to practice my swordsmanship for the past few weeks.” Minho lamented in a slightly whiny voice.

“Well, on the bright side, at least Taemin has been giving you some special attention,” Kyungsoo stated jokingly, although that didn’t stop Kibum’s face from heating up at the insinuation his son had just made.

“Hey! I’m still not over the fact that both of my sons are sexually active now…” Kibum whined, making both Chanyeol and Minho laugh at his refusal to accept facts. Even though they both knew he had walked on Kyungsoo and Baekhyun going at it twice since they had relocated to the palace.

“You should probably knock the next time you call me and Baek to dinner then, umma.” Kyungsoo began to laugh along with the others, his mother started to blush even more.

“I hope your siblings don’t turn out to be as greasy as you and your brother.” Kibum retorted as he rubbed his baby bump. However, before the others could reply to his comments, a portal appeared right next to where Jongin and Baekhyun were meditating. Yifan stepped out of it. Well, more like tripped and fell on top of his son. The dragon prince, who was finally broken from his concentration and looked not too pleased with being crushed under the weight of the nearly six foot and three inches tall Lord Guardian.

“Uh, not that I’m not glad to see you, Dad, but why are you on top of me?” Jongin grunted out from underneath his father. Yifan quickly got up and helped Jongin and Baekhyun to stand up. By this point, all eyes in the garden were on him, including Taemin and Sehun, who had both stopped play sparring, the moment the portal appeared.

“Well, that wasn’t the entrance I was hoping to make…” Yifan stated, dusting off his clothing. “But I just wanted to let you guys know that Yixing and I have successfully moved all of Sehun and Joonmyun’s stuff into a loft close to the mansion and that it is officially safe for us to go back to the human world. However, for right now, I only need to take Chanyeol, Sehun, and Jongin back with me.”

“Like hell, you will!” Kibum piped up from his spot on the patio, catching everyone’s attention “You think I’m letting you guys leave the Spirit World without eating my lunch that Kyungie and I worked hard to prepare? Nobody’s going anywhere until all this food is gone.” Even big, bad Yifan trembled a little at the tone in his brother-in-law’s voice, deciding it’d be best to listen to the older kumiho. He made his way over to the patio where Kibum was waiting for them with the others also following his lead.

Thirty minutes later, with full stomachs, Yifan was leading the two boys, along with Chanyeol, back through the portal. It opened in the middle of the Wu family mansion’s main living room. They were greeted by the sounds of muffled voices and what sounded like the rustling of clothes being put on, in one of the nearby rooms. Within a matter of a few minutes, they were greeted by Tao and Jongdae. Both of them having slightly dishevelled clothes on, that did nothing to hide the hickeys on their necks. Jongdae, of course, had his usual cheeky grin on, while a blushing Tao tried his best to avoid their questioning gazes, which pretty confirmed what they were thinking.

Jongdae opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything Yifan stopped him. “I don’t wanna know and I’m not going to ask what you two were even doing… Just please make sure you didn’t leave any stains on my furniture.” He grumbled with a hint of exasperation in his voice.

“Father, I have no clue what you’re talking about,” Jongdae replied innocently but his face held anything but innocent intentions. “Taozi and I were just playing an intense game of wrestling, right?”

“Yup. That’s definitely what we were doing, Mr Wu. Nothing more nothing less.” Tao blurted out in reply, although it didn’t work at convincing anybody.

“Gross.” Yifan deadpanned. “Anyways, Jongin, why don’t you show our guest around. While I go change my clothes. I’ll be back down soon enough to speak to you two.” He stated before leaving the room.

“Well, in that case. If you guys need me, I’ll be in my music room. As much as I enjoy you kids, mom needs a break from you too.” Chanyeol followed Yifan’s lead and left the two couples alone in the large room.

“We should probably get changed out of our training clothes,” Jongin stated, motioning for Sehun to follow him to his room upstairs. They returned to the living room fifteen minutes later, dressed much more casually than before.

“By the way, that was a really smooth way of covering your tracks eh, hyung?” Jongin teased as he flopped down onto the couch before he turned on the large flat screen television in front of him.

“Oi, at least I’m getting laid on a regular basis. Unlike some people.” Jongdae smirked, when his younger brother threw a couch pillow at him, which missed him completely. “I also see your aim hasn’t improved at all, Jonginnie.” He said before he picked up a nearby pillow and threw it at Jongin. It hit him directly in the face. From there, it turned into a full-blown pillow fight between the two brothers much to their significant others’ dismay.

“Are they usually like this?” Sehun asked Tao as he watched Jongin finally manage to hit Jongdae in the face.

“Sadly yes, it’s even worse when Yixing is around, to be honest. It’s like a constant game of one-upmanship between those three.” Tao sighed as a pillow narrowly missed him and hit Sehun instead. Both boys halted what they were doing to see what Sehun’s reaction would be. Both promptly received two pillows to the face, courtesy of Oh Sehun.

‘So much for me and Sehun being the mature ones.’ Tao rolled his eyes as Sehun also joined the pillow fight.

“What in the name of the gods?! What are you doing to my furniture?!” Yifan had nearly fainted upon seeing the state of his living room. Sehun and Jongin just looked at him sheepishly. Tao just shrugged and Jongdae burst out in hyena-like laughter at his father’s expression. “Each of those pillows was personally hand stitched together by one of the best seamstresses in all of Asia! How can you all be so nonchalant about this?!”

Jongin shrugged. “Because we’re actually kind of rich? The pillows didn’t even get messed up, dad.” He picked up a pillow to demonstrate for his father.

“Yeah, dad. Learn to live a little!” Jongdae chuckled after he finally managed to calm himself. Yifan opened his mouth to say something but before he could Sehun’s cell phone began to ring. He checked to see who was calling. It turned out it was only Joonmyun. However, when he answered the phone, he was greeted by Yixing’s frantic voice instead.

_“Sehun you need to come to the hospital immediately!”_

Sehun’s brows furrowed in confusion. “What? Why?”

_“It’s Joonmyun! He went into labour while we were unpacking at the apartment! He wasn’t supposed to go into labour for two weeks! We just got to the hospital and they’re wheeling Joonmyun to the maternity ward now. Gods, I’m so scared! What if something happens to him or the baby? What if-”_

“Yixing, calm down please.” Sehun cut in. “Joonmyun’s going to need you to be strong okay? I’m on my way. Hopefully, I get there soon enough. But for now, please make sure hyung is okay.” He stated calmly before he hung up. He was greeted by the questioning stares of the others in the room.

“Why is hyung calling? Is everything okay?” Jongdae asked, his expression was serious for once.

“Joonmyun hyung went into labour early. Yixing’s kind of freaking out at the hospital because of it.” Sehun stated flatly as if he was talking about something as mundane as the weather.

“Joonmyun is in labour! Well, why are we still standing here?!” Yifan exclaimed, before rushing over to the coffee table to grab his car keys. He then ran out into the main foyer and yelled up the stairs. “Chanyeol, we've got to go! Joonmyun’s having the baby now!”

“What do you mean he’s having the baby?! He’s not due for another two weeks!” Chanyeol said in disbelief after he rushed downstairs.

“Apparently, our grandkid has other plans…” Yifan replied, handing Chanyeol one of his jackets in the process. “Now come on, we have to go meet the little squirt.” With that, he rushed out the doors to the mansion, dragging Chanyeol with him.

“They do realize that they’re going to be stuck in traffic for hours, right?” Tao asked after the door had slammed shut. He got his answer in the form of the door reopening and Chanyeol dragging Yifan back into the living room.

“But Chanyeol, we have to get there before we miss the birth of our first grandchild~” Yifan whined after Chanyeol tightened his grip on his shirt.

“Disregard my idiot mate please.” Chanyeol rolled his eyes when Yifan attempted to escape his hold again. He turned his attention to Jongin. “Do you think you can be a dear and teleport us to the hospital?”

“Uh yeah sure mom…” Jongin replied rather hesitantly before motioning for everyone in the room to come closer to him. He couldn’t help but notice the sceptical look Sehun was giving him. “Don’t worry, I’ve done this like a million times.” Jongin tried to reassure the other boy, who just gave a nod and moved closer to the kumiho. With everyone in position, Jongin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, effectively clearing his mind. The next time he opened his eyes he saw that they were in one of the bathrooms of the hospital.

“Good job Jonginnie!” Chanyeol gave Jongin a pat on the back. “Now, all we have to do is find out what room Yixing and Joonmyun are in.” Their small group tried to be as inconspicuous as possible when they left the bathroom. They still received a few questionable glances from the receptionists at the desk that was nearby. Nonetheless, Chanyeol gave them a friendly smile when he walked up to the desk. “Hi, I was wondering could tell me what room in the maternity ward Kim Joonmyun is in?”

“Sorry sir, but we’re only allowed to disclose that information to family members.” The nurse replied in a monotone voice.

“I’m his younger brother,” Sehun spoke up as he walked up to the desk. “ Please ma’am, it’s very important we found out what room he’s in immediately.”

“Mhm.” The woman hummed in response, before she started typing something onto the computer in front of her and moments later something was printed out of the printer next to her. The receptionist handed the paper to Chanyeol. “He’s on the first floor in room two-zero-four. This paper has the directions attached, so you can find your way to the room.” She stated monotonously.

“Thank you for your help!” With that, he and the others went to find the nearest elevator.

After a few twists and turns, they finally reached Joonmyun’s room in the maternity ward. They were greeted by the sight of Yixing, dressed in scrubs, frantically pacing back and forth outside of the room. He stopped once he heard their footsteps and broke into a large grin when he saw his family standing there.

“You guys came!” Yixing exclaimed, giving his parents and brothers a hug. He even managed to force Sehun and Tao into one his notorious bone crushing hugs.

“Of course we came, son. We wouldn’t dare to miss the birth of our first grandchild!” Chanyeol replied cheerfully.

“How is Joonmyun doing? Is he fully dilated yet?” Yifan asked, after noticing his son’s still somewhat nervous expression.

“Joonmyun’s doing fine so far. He’s going through the usual I hate you and You did this to me stages of labour. Aside from that, he’s perfectly fine.” Yixing stated, causing Yifan to chuckle at the statement. It brought up memories of Chanyeol going through labour, threatening the same things. “The doctors said that he was about four centimetres dilated when we checked him in. He’s been stuck at six centimetres for the last hour and a half. The doctors told me to come out to get some air since it could be anywhere from five minutes to six hours before he was fully dilated and could begin to push.” Before he could say anything else, the door to Joonmyun’s room open slightly and one of the nurses poked her head out.

“Mr Wu, your husband is requesting your presence right now.” The nurse said in a somewhat meek voice.

“Is it okay if my family comes in?” Yixing asked as he looked at his parents.

“Of course, sir, but unfortunately the room can only fit two more people after yourself.” She replied still not meeting their gazes.

Yixing turned his attention to his brothers, Tao, and Sehun. “You guys are okay with me letting mom and dad be in the delivery room?”

“Don’t worry about it, hyung! We’ll see you when the little guy is born!” Jongdae reassured the older kumiho with his trademark smile.

“Yeah, I honestly didn't have any plans of going into that room until after hyung had the baby. Blood isn’t really my thing.” Sehun remarked with a slight look of disgust on his face at the very thought of blood. “Now get going, my brother and nephew are waiting for you.” With that, Yixing and his parents were escorted back into the delivery room by the nurse.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m kinda hungry…” Jongdae piped up. “You guys wanna come with me to find the cafeteria?”

“I could use something to eat too, so I’ll come with you.” Tao offered a shy smile to the older kumiho.

“Sorry, hyung, but I’m going to stay here. Just in case, the little guy is born in the next half hour or so.” Jongin replied as he took a seat in one of the nearby chairs in the waiting area.

“Yeah, I’m going to have to pass on any more food, since your aunt made it his business to stuff us full before we came back to the human world,” Sehun replied nonchalantly.

“Meh, suit yourselves. Make sure you text me when Joonmyun has the kid.” Jongdae said as he and Tao began walking away.

 

* * *

It seemed hours passed before the faint sound of an infant crying and cheers could be heard coming from the Joonmyun’s room when in reality it had only been an hour. Jongdae and Tao were probably still gorging themselves in the cafeteria and hadn’t returned yet. Whereas Sehun and Jongin, sat in a comfortable silence between the two of them while waiting for someone to leave the room with some news about what was going on. Both boys’ interests had been piqued when they heard the crying. They both knew it was only was only a matter of time before someone was going to walk out hopefully bearing good news. On cue, Chanyeol flung the room door open with probably the brightest smile either of the boys had seen gracing his face.

“Boys, it’s official! You’re now the uncles to a healthy baby boy!” He exclaimed cheerfully, pulling them both into a hug.

“So hyung finally had the baby? Is he okay? When can we go in and see them?” Sehun asked in rapid-fire fashion, barely able to contain his excitement.

“Whoa slow down, kiddo!” Chanyeol chuckled before releasing them from their hug. “Yes, everything went smoothly with the delivery and Joonmyun’s fine. Right now, the nurses are cleaning little Tae off and checking to make sure he’s okay. So you’ll be able to go in within the next few minutes.”

“Tae?” Jongin gave his mother a questioning look.

“Yeah, Tae. Yixing and Joonmyun decided to name the little fella, Taehyung. He’s probably the most adorable baby I’ve seen in awhile.”

“Wow, I can’t believe I’m an uncle…” Sehun said in amazement, having not fully grasped the fact yet.

“Yeah, we’re uncles…” Jongin replied, wrapping an arm around Sehun. He was feeling equally as excited at the prospect of meeting his nephew.

“Uh, so do either of you guys know where Tao and Dae are?” Chanyeol asked after he realized he was missing one of his sons.

“Oh, they’re in the cafeteria eating right now,” Sehun stated rather nonchalantly. “But I’ll text them to let them know the hyung had the baby.” With that, he whipped out his phone and shot off a quick text to the others. Right after he had put his phone away, the nurse from earlier opened the door with a smile on her face.

“The baby is all done being cleaned up so you two and any other family members can come into to see him now.” She said as held the door open for them.

Jongin gave his mother a hesitant look. But with a nod of reassurance from Chanyeol, he and Sehun made their way into the hospital room. Both boys couldn’t help the sense of giddiness that fell over them when they saw Yifan beaming at them when they entered the room. Jongin spotted a somewhat dishevelled Joonmyun cradling a small bundle in his arms, with Yixing standing by his bedside. Joonmyun also gave a large smile, when they approached his bedside, before adjusting the tiny bundle to reveal a wide-eyed baby boy.

“I’d like for you to meet your nephew, Wu Taehyung.” Joonmyun gave a soft smile when the baby cooed at being moved around. Taehyung looked like a perfect mixture of his parents. He got his structured nose from Yixing and his soft brown eyes from Joonmyun.

“He’s so small and…squishy,” Sehun said when Joonmyun motioned for him to come a little closer.

“He is, Sehunnie, isn’t he?” Yixing chuckled at his brother in law’s awestruck expression. “Would you like to hold him?”

“S-sure.” Sehun hesitantly reached out and pulled the newborn into his arms. He began rocking the infant gently, earning a few soft coos before Taehyung began to fall asleep. “I think he likes me, hyung.” Sehun gave his brother a nervous smile before he handed Taehyung back to Joonmyun. He continued to stare in adoration at the small baby, before falling into soft conversation with Yixing and Joonmyun. They gushed about how perfect the newborn was.

Meanwhile, Jongin stood back and observed the adorable scene in front of him. His thoughts then began to drift to potentially experiencing the same bliss of becoming parents one day with Sehun. He could feel his heart swell with love and pride at the very thought of it.

“Are you okay, son?” Yifan’s voice broke him from his thoughts after the older kumiho placed a hand on his shoulder “You’ve barely said a word since you came in.”

“Yeah, I’m fine dad… Just thinking ya know?” Jongin attempted to reassure his father.

“Puts a lot into perspective. Doesn’t it, Jongin?” Yifan replied almost as if he had read the younger’s thoughts.

“Yeah, it really does…”Jongin glanced back at the little family. “I just realized that there’s so much we have to protect from this Joon guy and me-”

However before he could finish, Yifan interjected “Hey, any other time I’d agree with you and be willing to discuss Joon. But right now is a joyous occasion. Go, my son, enjoy yourself and meet your nephew.” Jongin gave his father a smile before he went to join the others and began fawning over little Taehyung, just as they were. Yifan couldn’t help the large smile on his face at the sight of his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Baby Tae is finally here! I hope you enjoyed it! Kudos and comments are always appreciated!


End file.
